Senior Perception Engineer

Neros; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 164,000 - 229,000; Full time

Job summary

Neros, a defense technology company, seeks a Senior Perception Engineer to advance perception software for unmanned systems. You will develop detection, tracking, and classification across EO/thermal imagery, optimize for constrained onboard compute, and review designs across the team.

This role requires 5+ years in production perception software, proficiency in C++ and Python, and experience deploying neural networks to embedded accelerators on real systems.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in production computer vision or perception software.
• Experience deploying perception software onto a physical system in outdoor environments such as unmanned aircraft or aerospace platforms.
• Expert proficiency in C++ and Python in real-time or constrained environments.
• Depth in both classical and learned perception, including tracking, detection, and data association.

Responsibilities

• Develop detection, classification, and image-space tracking for targets at long range in cluttered terrain.
• Extend perception stack to IR and low-light imaging for night operations with sensor integration.
• Develop onboard target search and generation enabling engagements over limited links.
• Define perception output contracts with calibrated confidence and signaling for no detection or degraded sensors.
• Deploy perception software to embedded compute, managing accuracy and latency budgets.
• Define perception evaluation and regression tests against logged flight data.

Skills

C++

Python

Perception software

Embedded systems

Neural networks

Real-time constraints

Tools

Embedded accelerators

Job description

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
• Experience building or contributing to a data engine for a fleet, covering large-scale log capture, indexing and search, dataset versioning, and labeling operations that feed model training

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.