Senior ML Engineer II - Space Optics & Imaging

rocketlab; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Top-tier medical plans

Dental and vision coverage

Paid vacation and holidays

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer II to advance deep learning for EO/IR image processing at the Long Beach site. You will build and deploy ML models, design end-to-end pipelines, and work with researchers to tackle mission-critical space-domain challenges.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years of ML experience, strong Python skills, and expertise with TensorFlow/PyTorch. U.S.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field and 8+ years of experience, or a PhD with relevant hands-on expertise.
• Strong background in machine learning including model selection, training, validation, testing, and deployment.
• Experience building deep learning models for computer vision, image processing, or video analysis (e.g., object detection, segmentation, tracking).
• Proficiency in Python and experience with major DL libraries (Keras, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Familiarity with software engineering fundamentals: version control, testing, CI/CD, containerization.
• U.S. citizenship is required, ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Security Clearance.

Responsibilities

• Contribute toward developing solutions for real-world space-domain problems.
• 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 on AI, ML, and computer vision.
• Perform rapid prototyping and integrate into operational systems.
• Troubleshoot, fix bugs, and maintain systems.
• Stay current with ML research and evaluate new tools and frameworks.

Skills

Machine learning

Python

Deep learning

Image processing

CI/CD

Containerization

C/C++/Rust (nice to have)

Security clearance prep

Education

Bachelor's degree + 8+ years experience

Master's or PhD in CS/EE/Physics (nice to have)

Tools

Keras

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Docker

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer II to advance deep learning for EO/IR image processing at the Long Beach site. You will build and deploy ML models, design end-to-end pipelines, and work with researchers to tackle mission-critical space-domain challenges.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years of ML experience, strong Python skills, and expertise with TensorFlow/PyTorch. U.S.