Robotic Software Engineer (Senior, Staff or Lead) (Perception)

Ghost Robotics; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 140,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Full benefits

Equity incentive package

Flexible time off

Job summary

Ghost Robotics in Philadelphia, PA, is hiring a Perception Engineer to design and build SLAM, state estimation, and computer vision for our autonomous robots. You will translate research into production-ready software and collaborate with robotics, controls, and systems engineers.

This role supports Senior, Staff, or Lead levels, with responsibilities spanning end-to-end perception stack work, mentoring, and shipping perception software to real systems.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Robotics, CS, EE, or related field plus 2+ years of relevant work experience; or a PhD in a related field.
• Strong background in robotics perception or computer vision with hands-on experience implementing SLAM or localization in real systems.
• Solid understanding of 3D geometry and coordinate transformations, camera models and calibration, feature-based and/or direct visual methods, and probabilistic state estimation.
• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python
• Experience working in Linux environments
• Familiarity with robotics software stacks such as ROS / ROS 2
• Strong debugging and data analysis skills

Responsibilities

• Design and implement SLAM and localization systems (visual, visual-inertial, lidar, or multi-sensor)
• Develop and integrate computer vision pipelines for feature extraction, tracking, mapping, and scene understanding
• Implement and optimize estimation algorithms (filtering and optimization-based methods)
• Fuse data from cameras, IMUs, lidars, and depth sensors
• Evaluate perception performance using real-world data and metrics
• Optimize algorithms for real-time performance and robustness
• Collaborate with controls and planning teams to support downstream autonomy
• Maintain clean, well-tested, production-quality code
• Contribute to tooling, datasets, and evaluation frameworks
• Owns a defined technical area of the perception stack and delivers end-to-end, mentoring, and driving standards (Senior/Staff/Lead)

Skills

C++/Python

Linux

ROS/ROS 2

Debugging

Data analysis

3D geometry

Education

Master’s degree in Robotics/CS/EE or related

PhD in related field

Tools

ROS/ROS 2

ORB-SLAM/VINS/Cartographer/GTSAM

Job description

About the role

We're a robotics company building autonomous systems that operate in complex, dynamic environments. Our perception stack lets our robots understand, localize, and navigate the world in real time, and we care as much about robust, maintainable engineering as we do about raw algorithm performance.

Perception Engineer

We're hiring a Perception Engineer to design and build the SLAM, state estimation, and computer vision our robots rely on in the field. You'll take perception algorithms from research to reliable, production-ready software, working alongside our robotics, controls, and systems engineers.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys bridging the gap between the theory and deployment, turning academic algorithms into efficient, well-engineered systems.

How leveling works

This is one role, open at the Senior, Staff, or Lead level. The responsibilities below reflect the core of the role at every level. You don't need to decide which level fits you before applying. The selected candidate will be placed at the level commensurate with the skills, scope, and experience they demonstrate through the interview process, and the offer will align with that level. Senior and Staff are individual-contributor positions. Lead carries the same technical scope plus people-leadership responsibilities, for candidates who want them.

What you'll do (all levels)

• Design and implement SLAM and localization systems (visual, visual-inertial, lidar, or multi-sensor)
• Develop and integrate computer vision pipelines for feature extraction, tracking, mapping, and scene understanding
• Implement and optimize estimation algorithms (filtering and optimization-based methods)
• Fuse data from cameras, IMUs, lidars, and depth sensors
• Evaluate perception performance using real-world data and metrics
• Optimize algorithms for real-time performance and robustness
• Collaborate with controls and planning teams to support downstream autonomy
• Maintain clean, well-tested, production-quality code
• Contribute to tooling, datasets, and evaluation frameworks

Senior Perception Engineer

• Owns a defined technical area of the perception stack and delivers independently end to end
• Mentors less-experienced engineers
• Track record of shipping perception software to real systems

Staff Perception Engineer

• Drives technical direction and architecture across the team's area
• Sets engineering standards and multiplies the output of others
• Demonstrated influence beyond their own deliverables, across teams or an entire perception stack

Lead Perception Engineer

• Staff-level technical scope plus people-leadership responsibilities: direct reports, hiring, performance, and team planning
• Demonstrated ability to grow engineers and run a healthy, productive team

Requirements

Required qualifications (all levels)

• Master’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, plus 2+ years of relevant work experience; OR a PhD in a related field.
• A strong background in robotics perception or computer vision, with hands‑on experience implementing SLAM or localization in real systems. We weigh what you’ve built and shipped over where your degree is from. An advanced degree in Robotics, CS, EE, or a related field is one path in. Equivalent industry experience is another, and just as welcome.
• Solid understanding of 3D geometry and coordinate transformations, camera models and calibration, feature-based and/or direct visual methods, and probabilistic state estimation
• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python
• Experience working in Linux environments
• Familiarity with robotics software stacks such as ROS / ROS 2
• Strong debugging and data analysis skills

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with SLAM frameworks such as ORB-SLAM, VINS, Cartographer, or GTSAM
• Lidar-based perception and mapping
• Familiarity with deep learning perception models
• Experience deploying perception systems on real robots
• GPU acceleration (CUDA, OpenCL)
• Dataset curation and annotation
• A graduate degree, or publications and research in robotics or computer vision

What we offer

• Work on cutting-edge robotics perception problems with real-world constraints
• The opportunity to own and evolve core autonomy components
• A collaborative, engineering-driven team culture
• Access to real robots, real data, and real impact
• The anticipated starting base salary for this position is $140,000 to $185,000 per year, placed by level as described above

Location

Philadelphia, PA. This is a full-time, on-site role. No remote candidates will be considered at this time.

Travel

None required, though domestic and international opportunities exist for engineers who want field exposure.

Compensation

Competitive base salary, full benefits, and a highly motivating equity incentive package. Flexible time off policy. We focus on output, impact, and the ability to work alongside a stellar interdisciplinary team.

Additional Information

Clear standard background checks are required pre-hire, post-hire, and at any time during employment. Permanent U.S. residency is required.