Senior Perception Robotics Engineering Manager

Saildrone; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 259,649 - 305,469; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous Time Off

Comprehensive Health Coverage

Equity grants

401(k)

Professional development reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Saildrone in Alameda, CA is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager, Perception to lead the Robotics Software Org. You will architect, implement, and productionize next-gen perception software for our drone fleet, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on technical ownership.

You will mentor a world-class autonomy team, drive real-time perception on embedded platforms, collaborate with ML, systems, and hardware teams, and ensure robust validation and safety.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software experience in robotics, drones, or autonomous systems with 2+ years in engineering management or technical leadership.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• Proficiency in modern C++ (14/17/20) and production-grade software for Linux embedded environments.
• Deep understanding of perception, multi-object tracking, 3D computer vision, or edge deployment of deep learning.
• Experience with complex maritime sensor stacks and data fusion (cameras, radar, LiDAR, AIS).
• Experience building data ingestion pipelines, auto-labeling frameworks, or regression workflows for large datasets.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale an elite engineering team, providing mentorship while remaining hands-on with core architecture and reviews.
• Ensure delivery, reliability, and edge performance of real-time perception software on uncrewed platforms during long deployments.
• Collaborate with Autonomy, ML, Systems, and Hardware teams to align roadmaps and integration.
• Drive development using C++ and agile practices to maintain high-velocity, production-grade software.
• Identify bottlenecks and risks, implementing mitigations for high-performance compute on embedded hardware (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson).
• Establish validation, HIL testing, and simulation workflows using large maritime datasets for deterministic safety.

Skills

C++ (14/17/20)

Robotics software

Leadership

Embedded Linux

Perception fundamentals

Sensor fusion

Dataset pipelines

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/Robotics/EE

Tools

Linux

Job description

Saildrone in Alameda, CA is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager, Perception to lead the Robotics Software Org. You will architect, implement, and productionize next-gen perception software for our drone fleet, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on technical ownership.

You will mentor a world-class autonomy team, drive real-time perception on embedded platforms, collaborate with ML, systems, and hardware teams, and ensure robust validation and safety.