Staff Software Engineer, Localization

AeroVect; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AeroVect is advancing autonomous ground operations at major airports. We seek a Staff Software Engineer to own localization, mapping, and calibration stacks, guiding them from supervised operation to driverless deployment.

You will collaborate across perception, planning, and platform interfaces with senior engineers to scale the system across airports. You will lead core localization workstreams, drive architectural decisions, and build online validation for drift detection and sensor

Qualifications

• 8+ years in robotics or autonomous vehicles with production deployment experience.
• Strong grounding in multi-sensor fusion and state estimation (LiDAR, IMU, GNSS, cameras).
• Proven leadership in driving architecture across teams and hard estimation problems.
• Proficiency in C++17+ and Linux; ROS/ROS2 experience required.
• Understanding localization calibration impact on safety cases.

Responsibilities

• Own core areas of the localization stack and drive production reliability on real hardware.
• Contribute to the localization and mapping pipeline from sensor integration to deployment.
• Design online validation for localization integrity and cross-sensor consistency.
• Develop diagnostics, health logging, and post-mission analysis tools.
• Support regression, validation, and release-gating for localization changes.
• Deploy, test, and iterate using real autonomous operation data.

Skills

Localization/state estimation

Multi-sensor fusion

Non-linear optimization

C++17+

Linux

ROS/ROS2

Team leadership

Education

BS in CS/Robotics/EE

MS preferred

Tools

GLIM

LIO-SAM

Cartographer

Kalibr

Ceres

GTSAM

Job description

WHO WE ARE

AeroVect is transforming ground handling with autonomy, redefining how airlines and ground service providers around the globe run day-to-day operations. We are a Series A company backed by top-tier venture capital investors in aviation and autonomous driving. Our customers include some of the world’s largest airlines and ground handling providers. For more information, visit www.aerovect.com http://www.aerovect.com.

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join the Localization team and own significant parts of our localization, mapping, and calibration stack as we scale autonomous ground operations across major airports. You'll take deep ownership of specific workstreams, contribute to the team's technical direction, and partner across the perception, planning, and platform interfaces to help drive the autonomous system from supervised operation to driverless. You'll work alongside the team's senior localization engineers.

You Will

• Take ownership of one or more core areas of the localization stack (LiDAR-inertial-GNSS state estimation, 3D mapping and map maintenance, or sensor calibration) and drive it to production reliability on real hardware at active airports
• Contribute across the broader localization and mapping pipeline from sensor integration, performance tuning, regression testing, and deployment to new operating environments
• Help design and build online validation that monitors localization integrity and cross-sensor consistency during live missions, detects drift, and integrates with the vehicle's safety architecture
• Develop tooling for diagnostics, health logging, and post-mission analysis across the stack
• Contribute to the regression, validation, and release-gating approach for localization changes deployed to active airports
• Deploy, test, and iterate using data from real autonomous operations

You Have

• 8+ years in robotics or autonomous vehicles, with a track record of owning localization or state-estimation systems through production deployment on real hardware
• Deep practical grounding in multi-sensor fusion and state estimation across LiDAR, IMU, GNSS, and cameras
• Demonstrated technical leadership - driving architecture across teams, setting direction, and being the person others elevate to on hard estimation problems
• Strong command of non-linear optimization (Ceres, GTSAM, g2o) and/or filtering (EKF, UKF), with the judgment to know when each applies
• Strong modern C++ (C++17+) and deep working experience with Linux and ROS/ROS2
• Understanding of how calibration quality propagates through localization and perception, and how localization errors propagate into the safety case
• BS or MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or a related field

We Prefer

• MS or PhD with a focus on localization, state estimation, or calibration
• Hands-on experience with multi-sensor calibration - intrinsic, extrinsic, and temporal
• Experience with factor graphs, graph-based SLAM, or open-source tools like GLIM, LIO-SAM, Cartographer, Kalibr, Ceres, GTSAM
• Experience building online/runtime monitoring and defining safety-relevant thresholds within a safety monitoring architecture
• Track record of taking an autonomous system toward driverless operation