Staff Engineer, Perception (R5611)

Shield; London (KY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Senior or Staff Robotics Perception Engineer to develop and deploy perception and navigation for autonomous aircraft operating in complex, GNSS-denied environments. The role focuses on VIO/SLAM and camera-IMU fusion, not general AI/ML.

You will advance algorithms from prototype to embedded deployment, conduct field tests, and validate flight performance on operational platforms.

Qualifications

• Expertise in VIO, SLAM, and vision-based navigation.
• Experience deploying algorithms to embedded flight hardware.
• Ability to operate in GNSS-denied environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy advanced perception and navigation capabilities for autonomous aircraft.
• Take algorithms from early prototypes through embedded implementation, field testing and flight validation.

Skills

Visual-inertial odometry

SLAM

Camera-IMU fusion

State estimation

Embedded deployment

Job description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BATaircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI's technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. We are seeking a Senior or Staff Robotics Perception Engineer to develop and deploy advanced perception and navigation capabilities for autonomous aircraft operating in complex and GNSS-denied environments.

This role requires deep expertise in visual-inertial odometry (VIO), visual SLAM, vision-based navigation, state estimation, and camera-IMU sensor fusion. You will take algorithms from early-stage prototypes through embedded implementation, field testing, and flight validation on operational autonomous platforms.

This is not a general AI/ML or object-detection role. We are looking for an engineer whose core expertise lies at the intersection of robotics perception, VIO/SLAM, state estimation, camera and inertial sensing, and real-time embedded deployment.