Senior Perception Hardware Engineer - Sensor Calibration

Apptronik; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Apptronik is seeking a Senior Perception Hardware Engineer focusing on Sensor Calibration to own the link between the physical world and the robot's autonomy stack. You will design fixtures, write calibration algorithms, and build scalable factory processes for intrinsic, extrinsic, and temporal calibration of Apollo's sensors.

You will lead sensor modeling, extrinsic calibration, and temporal synchronization while collaborating with electrical, embedded, and mechanical teams to ensure precise,

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience in perception hardware, computer vision, or robotics, with a primary focus on sensor calibration and validation.

Responsibilities

• Define robust intrinsic models for optical sensors (pinhole, fisheye, Brown-Conrady, Kannala-Brandt) and inertial sensors (bias, scale factors, random walk).
• Develop highly accurate sensor-to-sensor and sensor-to-kinematic-base spatial transformations.
• Ensure sub-microsecond synchronization across perception streams using PTP, PPS, and hardware triggering.
• Design physical calibration targets and lighting environments for high-repeatability factory calibration.
• Collaborate with mechanical engineers to evaluate sensor mounting rigidity and characterize calibration drift due to thermal gradients, shocks, and wear.
• Build automated calibration pipelines for end-of-line automation on manufacturing lines.
• Develop auto-calibration or self-diagnostic routines for field use to detect sensor drift and adjust extrinsic transforms.
• Establish data-tracking architecture to monitor fleet-wide calibration health.

Skills

Python

C++

OpenCV

PCL

CERES Solver

g2o

3D geometry

Linear algebra

Sensor calibration

Perception hardware

Education

MS/PhD in Robotics or related field

Tools

OpenCV

PCL

CERES Solver

g2o

Job description

Apptronik is seeking a Senior Perception Hardware Engineer focusing on Sensor Calibration to own the link between the physical world and the robot's autonomy stack. You will design fixtures, write calibration algorithms, and build scalable factory processes for intrinsic, extrinsic, and temporal calibration of Apollo's sensors.

You will lead sensor modeling, extrinsic calibration, and temporal synchronization while collaborating with electrical, embedded, and mechanical teams to ensure precise,