Senior ML Engineer I - Space Optics & CV

Rocket Lab; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 188,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Job summary

Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division seeks a Senior Machine Learning Engineer I to build and deploy deep learning models for EO/IR image processing. Based in Chantilly, VA, you will support SDA PWSA and related programs, developing end-to-end ML pipelines and collaborating across AI/vision teams.

You should have a strong ML background, Python expertise, and experience with Keras/TensorFlow/PyTorch. U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a security clearance are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field with 5+ years of exp for senior track.
• Strong ML background including model selection, training, validation, and deployment.
• Experience with deep learning for computer vision (object detection, segmentation, tracking).
• Proficiency in Python and ML libraries (Keras, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Software engineering fundamentals: version control, testing, CI/CD, containerization.

Responsibilities

• Design, train, and deploy ML models for Optical Systems applications.
• Build and maintain ML pipelines for data ingestion, feature engineering, training, and inference.
• Collaborate with researchers/engineers in AI, ML, and computer vision.
• Perform rapid prototyping and integration into operational systems.
• Troubleshoot, fix bugs, and maintain existing and new systems.
• Stay current with ML research and evaluate new tools and frameworks.
• Contribute to solutions addressing real-world DoD/IC requirements.

Skills

Machine Learning

Python

Deep Learning

Computer Vision

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/ME/Physics

Tools

Keras

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Docker

Git

Job description

Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division seeks a Senior Machine Learning Engineer I to build and deploy deep learning models for EO/IR image processing. Based in Chantilly, VA, you will support SDA PWSA and related programs, developing end-to-end ML pipelines and collaborating across AI/vision teams.

You should have a strong ML background, Python expertise, and experience with Keras/TensorFlow/PyTorch. U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a security clearance are required.