AI and Computer Vision Engineer (AI)

Location: Munich, Germany

Company

The Exploration Company develops aerospace technologies for the future of space transportation.

What you will do

• Design, train, and evaluate deep-learning models for 6-DoF pose estimation of non-cooperative spacecraft.
• Own the end-to-end training pipeline, including dataset generation, augmentation, sim-to-real adaptation, experiment tracking, and reproducibility.
• Optimize and deploy models on embedded and neuromorphic hardware using distillation, pruning, quantization, and quantization-aware training.
• Build explainability, uncertainty estimation, self-supervised refinement, and privacy-preserving or distributed training capabilities.
• Define requirements, test scenarios, validation criteria, and camera-sensor characterization with GNC/FPO teams.
• Run hardware-in-the-loop validation campaigns and manage training workloads across cloud GPUs and internal HPC infrastructure.

Requirements

• MSc or PhD in computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, aerospace, physics, or a comparable field with a strong machine-learning focus.
• At least 3 years of experience building and shipping deep-learning computer-vision systems; PhD research in the field counts.
• Experience taking models from research prototypes to constrained targets, including quantization, distillation, latency optimization, and embedded or accelerator deployment.
• Strong Python and PyTorch skills, or equivalent JAX/TensorFlow experience, with clean, version-controlled, reproducible code.
• Knowledge of classical computer vision and 3D geometry, including camera models, calibration, PnP, RANSAC, and coordinate frames.
• Working proficiency in English is required; German is a plus.

Nice to have

• Experience with spacecraft rendezvous, docking, vision-based navigation, SPEED/SPEED+, or ESA pose-estimation challenges.
• Experience with spiking neural networks, neuromorphic hardware, or event-based cameras.
• Knowledge of federated learning, differential privacy, secure aggregation, or synthetic-data rendering tools.
• Experience with space or safety-critical software assurance or publicly funded R&D projects.

Culture & Benefits

• Fast decision-making within an Agile working environment.
• Open and collaborative communication focused on risks, obstacles, and shared problem-solving.
• Relocation assistance is provided for candidates willing to relocate, including visa sponsorship where applicable.
• Employment offers are subject to a background check depending on the country, role, and project.