Senior Engineer, Data & Perception

senrasystems; Cypress (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Senra Systems is redefining complex manufacturing by instrumenting production lines with cameras and sensors and building a scalable data layer for real-time insights. You’ll own perception, measurement, and data governance across production cells, collaborating with robotics and industrial teams to deploy on real hardware.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, rapid prototyping, and end-to-end ownership in a fast-growing startup environment on a real production line in California.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building data infrastructure or perception systems in production.
• Strong Python and SQL, with PyTorch or similar frameworks.
• Experience with cameras/sensors on real hardware and edge compute.
• Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/Robotics or equivalent hands-on experience.

Responsibilities

• Instrument the line with cameras and sensors and edge hardware on the floor.
• Build the factory data layer with pipelines and storage linked to jobs/operations.
• Develop perception for production: vision-based inspection and recognition.
• Create automated measurement via time studies, step logs, photo records.
• Support data for robot learning: capture, labeling, datasets, evaluation tools.
• Implement data governance: access control and handling of sensitive data.
• Define engineering standards and evaluate external platforms/vendors.
• Mentor and help grow the engineering team.

Skills

Production data infra

Computer vision in the physical world

Data engineering for video/sensor data

Edge compute on real hardware

Ownership and fast iteration

Strong Python/SQL

Education

Bachelor's in CS/EE/Robotics

Tools

Python

SQL

PyTorch

C++

Job description

At Senra Systems, we're building a new model for complex manufacturing, starting with electrical wire harnesses. We're a real manufacturer, not a lab: we build harnesses on our own production lines for some of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the country. Long term, automating this work is how we help bring complex manufacturing back to the U.S.

We're looking for a Senior Engineer to own the technical implementation of the data and perception layer in our Automation Program: the cameras, sensors, pipelines, and models that turn what happens on our production lines into data our factory software, our industrial engineers, and our robots can use. High-mix assembly has long resisted automation partly because the work is hard to see and measure. You'll change that: instrument the line, build the data infrastructure behind it, and build the perception our robotic cells and our robot learning work depend on. Real hardware, on a real line, in real production.

This is a hands‑on senior role on a small team with aggressive goals. You'll report to one of Senra's cofounders, our Head of AI & Robotics, who owns the technical vision for the program. You'll partner with the other senior engineers on the team to execute it, and help shape where it goes as we build. It's a lot of work, with a lot of ownership, and what you build goes onto the line fast.

Everything else builds on this foundation. Our production robotics team uses it for sensing and inspection on the line, our robot learning team uses it to collect demonstrations and train new manipulation skills, and our industrial engineering team uses it to measure and improve manufacturing processes. As new capabilities are developed, they can be deployed directly back into production.

What you'll own:

• Instrumentation of the line: cameras and sensors at workstations and in cells, capture software, and edge hardware that runs reliably on the floor
• The factory data layer: pipelines and storage for video, sensor, and robot data, tied to jobs, operations, and parts in our in-house factory software
• Perception in production: computer vision for inspection, step and activity recognition, part and wire detection, and cell sensing
• Automated measurement: time studies, step logs, and photo records generated from the data, feeding planning, pricing, and quality
• Data for robot learning: demonstration capture, labeling, datasets, and evaluation infrastructure, built with our Senior Robotics Engineer, Robot Learning
• Data governance and security: technician consent, access control, and handling of export-controlled and customer data
• Engineering standards, and evaluation of vendors and platforms where buying beats building
• Helping hire and mentor the engineers who join as the team grows

What you’ll bring to the team:

Required:

• Hands‑on experience building data infrastructure or perception systems that run in production, including systems where you were the technical lead
• Computer vision in the physical world: training, deploying, and monitoring models on camera data from manufacturing, robotics, logistics, or similar settings
• Data engineering for large volumes of video and sensor data: capture, pipelines, storage, labeling, and the tooling to train and evaluate on it
• Experience with cameras and sensors on real hardware: selection, calibration, synchronization, and edge compute
• Strong Python and SQL, a deep learning framework such as PyTorch, and comfort deploying to cloud and edge; C++ where performance needs it
• A track record of moving quickly: rapid prototyping, testing on real hardware, and iterating to reliable results
• Self‑starter who takes ownership of a technical area end to end, partners well with other senior engineers, and communicates clearly with technicians, engineers, and leadership
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical or computer engineering, robotics, or a related field, or equivalent hands‑on experience
• Must be a U.S. Person as defined under ITAR (see ITAR requirements below)

Preferred:

• Data infrastructure for robot learning: teleoperation or demonstration capture, dataset management, and evaluation
• Activity or step recognition from video, or automated time study
• Integration with manufacturing systems (e.g., MES, ERP) or factory software
• Working with export‑controlled or regulated data (e.g., ITAR, CUI, CMMC)
• Experience in wire harness, cable assembly, or other high‑mix assembly
• Startup or high‑growth company experience
• Experience mentoring engineers or helping build a team

Success in This Role Looks Like (6-12 Months):

• Cameras and capture are running at our highest-volume workstations, with data tied to jobs and operations in our factory software
• Automated time studies or step logs from that data are informing planning and pricing
• At least one perception model is running in production, such as camera inspection at a station or sensing in robotic cells, with measured accuracy
• Our robot learning work is collec