Robotics Software Engineer, Perception

Socket.dev; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 299,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision, and life ins.

401k

Relocation support

Flexible vacation policy

Equity

Job summary

Hadrian in San Francisco is seeking a senior leader for the Autonomous Factory Systems Perception team. You will define the technical roadmap, architect perception systems, and drive execution across perception, planning and control to enable autonomous factories.

You will lead a hands-on, cross-functional team, shaping the direction of perception software, collaborating with robotics, ML, and hardware groups to scale sensing capabilities across manufacturing use cases.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering in computer vision or autonomous systems.
• Expert-level 3D computer vision and LiDAR knowledge.
• Strong ML foundations and production deployment experience.
• Experience in manufacturing, logistics, or applied robotics environments.
• Experience building real-time perception systems with low latency constraints.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python; production-quality code.
• Ability to define architecture and align teams across orgs.
• Experience contributing to technical hiring.

Skills

3D computer vision

Robotics perception

Production-grade C++/Python

Real-time perception systems

Technical leadership

Architecture definition

Hiring / team building

Sensor fusion

Education

M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science/Robotics

Tools

TensorRT

Python

C++

Job description

Hadrian - Manufacturing the Future

Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost.

Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built.

Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen.

If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.

The Role

The Autonomous Factory Systems team builds the software that gives Hadrian's factories the ability to sense, decide, and act autonomously. This includes the core robotics stack — perception, behaviors, planning, collision avoidance, and high-level control — alongside orchestration between robots and manufacturing machines and the hardware abstraction layer that connects our software to the machines on the floor.

Perception is central to the future of autonomous systems in the factory. In this role will lead the technical direction of the Autonomous Factory Systems organization’s Perception team. You will be — defining the technical roadmap, shaping the architecture, and driving the work that will meaningfully expand what our robots can sense, understand, and act on. This is a deeply hands-on role for someone who brings sharp technical depth and the experience to drive alignment across teams working at the cutting edge of industrial robotics.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of software engineering in computer vision, robotics perception, or autonomous systems, with a track record of technical leadership at Staff or Principal level (or equivalent scope)

• Expert-level command of 3D computer vision: point cloud processing, depth estimation, stereo and structured light systems, multi-view geometry, and/or LiDAR-based algorithms in production

• Strong machine learning foundations — model architecture, training infrastructure, and production deployment — with the judgment to know when and how to apply learned approaches versus classical methods

• Experience in manufacturing, logistics, or other applied robotics environments — familiarity with the reliability and safety constraints that production deployment demands beyond the lab

• Experience building and deploying real-time perception systems under hard latency and reliability constraints

• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python; demonstrated ability to write production-quality code and hold a high bar in technical review

• Proven ability to define architecture across a domain, make and communicate high-stakes technical decisions, and build alignment across teams and organizational boundaries

• Experience contributing meaningfully to technical hiring — defining role requirements, evaluating candidates, and helping raise team caliber over time

What Will Set You Apart

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field with a concentration in computer vision, machine learning, or perception

• Hands-on experience with sensor fusion techniques including multi-modal calibration, temporal alignment, and uncertainty quantification across sensor modalities

• Familiarity with model optimization for edge deployment — quantization, distillation, TensorRT, or equivalent

• Publications, patents, or significant open-source contributions in computer vision, robotics perception, or machine learning

Compensation

For this role, the target salary range is $240,000 - $299,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).

This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee's pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Benefits for Full-time Employees

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees

• 401k

• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

• Flexible vacation policy

• Equity

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Use of AI in hiring

Hadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our Privacy Policy.

Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.