Senior Asset Pipeline Engineer - Sensor Platform

Applied Intuition; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition in Sunnyvale, California, is seeking a Senior Asset Pipeline Engineer. This role focuses on designing the pipeline for a large, versioned 3D asset library, utilizing OpenUSD architecture and simulation infrastructure.

The ideal candidate will have expertise in OpenUSD composition and experience with automated DCC-to-engine pipelines. You will collaborate across teams to ensure the pipeline meets production needs efficiently.

Qualifications

• Deep, practical OpenUSD composition expertise.
• Experience authoring and validating custom USD schemas.
• Strong UsdShade material expertise in authoring and converting material networks.

Responsibilities

• Design the OpenUSD schema for a large, versioned 3D asset library.
• Build automated pipelines that move assets across tools.
• Define automated validation gates to maintain asset integrity.

Skills

OpenUSD composition expertise

Automated pipeline development

UsdShade material expertise

Version control in Python

Tools

NVIDIA Omniverse / Isaac Sim

Houdini LOPs

Material Definition Language (MDL)

Job description

About Applied Intuition

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co.

About the Role

Applied Intuition’s Sensor Simulation platform lets automotive and robotics customers validate their perception systems against high-fidelity, physically accurate simulated sensor data. Behind that platform is a large, growing library of 3D simulation assets — and the content pipeline that produces them. We are investing in the next generation of that pipeline, built on OpenUSD, so our asset library can scale and stay portable across the authoring tools and simulation engines our customers depend on.

We are looking for a Senior Asset Pipeline Engineer to design and own that pipeline — a senior individual-contributor role at the intersection of pipeline engineering, OpenUSD architecture, and simulation infrastructure. You will own the design end-to-end and make the core architecture decisions, partnering with our simulation and infrastructure teams to take the system from design through production.

At Applied Intuition, You Will:

• Design the OpenUSD schema and composition strategy — references, variants, payloads, custom schemas — for a large, versioned 3D asset library that must scale across authoring tools and simulation engines
• Build and own automated pipelines that move assets between DCC tools and real-time/simulation engines, removing manual hand-offs
• Define automated validation gates that catch asset-integrity and fidelity issues in CI, before they reach production
• Solve material conversion for simulation: translate complex authored materials into USD-native representations (UsdShade, and MDL where needed) while preserving the physical fidelity sensor simulation requires — not just visual appearance
• Design the asset metadata strategy that powers discovery, semantic labeling, and downstream tooling
• Take the pipeline from design through production — observability, reliability, and a smooth experience for the content authors who depend on it

We’re Looking for Someone Who Has:

• Deep, practical OpenUSD composition expertise — references, variants, payloads, inherits, specializes — designing and debugging composition stacks, not just consuming USD files
• Experience authoring and validating custom USD schemas (API and applied schemas)
• Strong UsdShade material expertise: authoring, validating, and converting complex material networks
• Built and owned automated DCC-to-engine pipelines in production — version-controlled Python that runs in CI, with real downstream users (not prototypes or research)
• Managed USD at library scale: versioning, identifier and namespace conventions, and validation across thousands of assets

Nice To Have:

• NVIDIA Omniverse / Isaac Sim: Kit extensions (Python or C++), USD ingest, and Replicator / synthetic-data-generation pipelines
• Houdini LOPs: native USD authoring and procedural scene graphs — a strong signal for someone who thinks in USD
• MDL (Material Definition Language): physically-based material authoring and portability across renderers
• Sensor simulation domain knowledge: how material properties (reflectance, roughness, emissivity) drive lidar, radar, and camera outputs — beyond visual quality
• Automotive, defense, or robotics simulation experience: contexts where sensor fidelity matters beyond visual aesthetics (ROS 2 / scene assembly a plus)

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.