Senior Perception Engineer

Neros Technologies; New Mexico; On-site; USD 164,000 - 229,000; Full time

Job summary

Neros Technologies in the United States is seeking a Senior Perception Engineer to develop perception software that enables unmanned systems to detect, classify, and track targets from EO and thermal imagery. The role spans the full perception stack, with emphasis on onboard deployment and latency-aware design.

You will extend the perception stack to IR/low-light imaging, define output contracts, and review designs across the team while working with platform partners to meet end-to-end

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in production computer vision or perception software.
• Experience deploying perception software on a physical system in uncontrolled outdoor environments (e.g., UAVs, robotics, aerospace).
• Expert proficiency in C++ and Python under real-time or resource-constrained conditions.
• Depth in classical and learned perception: tracking, detection, data association, and networks.
• Experience deploying neural networks to embedded accelerators with quantization and latency considerations.
• Familiarity with EO/IR imaging, camera calibration, and sensor characteristics in challenging conditions.
• Experience defining perception evaluation metrics, including precision, recall, track continuity, and regression testing.
• Ability to select detection thresholds considering false positives vs missed detections in critical systems.

Responsibilities

• Develop perception features for detection, classification, and image-space tracking on EO and thermal imagery.
• Extend the perception stack to IR and low-light imaging, including sensor frontend integration and data collection for learned components.
• Develop onboard target search and candidate generation for engagements over constrained links.
• Define perception output contracts with calibrated confidence and explicit signaling of no detection or degraded conditions.
• Deploy perception software to embedded compute, balancing accuracy and end-to-end latency budgets.
• Provide design and code review across the perception team and maintain evaluation pipelines.
• Define and maintain perception evaluation and regression cases against logged flight data.

Skills

C++

Python

Perception software

Real-time systems

Neural networks

Embedded accelerators

Tools

CUDA

TensorRT

OpenCV

ROS

Job description

Who we are

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

What you will be doing

The Senior Perception Engineer develops the perception software that allows Neros unmanned aircraft to detect, classify, and track targets from the air, working across the full perception stack rather than a single component. This role covers detection, classification, image-space tracking, and aimpoint selection on both EO and thermal imagery, delivered onto constrained onboard compute and validated against logged flight data. As one of the most senior individual contributors in the perception group, this engineer also provides design and code review across the team's work.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver detection, classification, and image-space tracking for small, low-contrast targets at long standoff in cluttered terrain
• Extend the perception stack to IR and low-light imaging in support of night operations, including sensor frontend integration, performance characterization, and the imagery collection required to support subsequent learned components
• Develop onboard target search and candidate generation that enables operator authorization of engagements over narrowband or degraded communications links
• Implement discrimination of valid targets from civilian, friendly, and neutral objects, and set detection operating points jointly with the state estimation and engagement authorization owners
• Define the perception output contract, including calibrated confidence and explicit signaling of no detection, suppressed detection, and degraded sensor conditions
• Deploy perception software to embedded compute in partnership with the platform team, owning the accuracy and latency trade-off and compliance with end-to-end latency budgets
• Define and maintain perception evaluation and regression cases against logged flight data, and provide senior technical review across the perception team

You should have the following

• 5+ years of professional experience developing production computer vision or perception software, with demonstrated ownership of a perception component from prototype through fielded deployment
• Demonstrated delivery of perception software onto a physical system operating in an uncontrolled outdoor environment, such as unmanned aircraft, ground robotics, autonomous vehicles, or aerospace platforms, rather than research or benchmark work alone
• Expert proficiency in C++ and Python, including production experience under real-time or resource-constrained requirements
• Depth in both classical and learned perception, spanning correlation, template, and optical-flow tracking, feature matching and data association, alongside modern detection and classification networks
• Experience deploying neural networks to embedded accelerators, including quantization and characterization of the resulting accuracy and latency trade-off
• Working knowledge of EO and IR/thermal imaging, camera calibration, and sensor characteristics, with direct experience in small-object detection at long range, in low light, or under high dynamic range
• Experience defining perception evaluation, including dataset and labeling requirements, detection and tracking metrics such as precision, recall, track continuity, and identity switches, and regression testing against logged flight or field data
• Experience selecting detection thresholds and operating points against an explicit cost of false positives versus missed detections in a safety-critical or mission-critical system
• Familiarity with coordinate frames, sensor timing and synchronization, and uncertainty representation at the interface between perception and state estimation

Nice to have

• Experience with air-to-ground EO/IR imagery, or with airborne target acquisition, seeker, or automatic target recognition systems
• Experience selecting or integrating thermal/LWIR sensors, including the imaging and procurement trade-offs involved

  US Salary Range

  $163,500 – $228,500 USD

  The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

  We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.