Head of Robotics Perception, SLAM & Navigation

Location: On-site in Metzingen / Riederich, Germany

Company

hirify.global develops real robots and AI-driven robotic systems.

What you will do

• Own the technical roadmap for perception, mapping and navigation from research prototypes through production deployment on real robots.
• Hire, lead and mentor perception, SLAM and navigation engineers.
• Develop multi-sensor perception using RGB-D, stereo, LiDAR, IMU and wheel odometry, including calibration, time synchronisation and sensor fusion.
• Lead SLAM, localisation and map management for 2D/3D, semantic, long-term and multi-session maps in changing environments.
• Drive 3D scene understanding, navigation, path planning, obstacle avoidance and whole-body motion in cluttered spaces.
• Work with Edge AI and hardware teams on embedded real-time performance, functional safety, simulation, datasets, evaluation and regression testing.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in robotics, computer science, electrical engineering or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in robotics perception, SLAM or navigation, including 2+ years of technical leadership and deployments on real robots in production or field settings.
• Deep knowledge of state estimation, sensor fusion and SLAM, including factor graphs, visual-inertial odometry or LiDAR SLAM.
• Strong background in 3D computer vision and learning-based perception.
• Experience with motion planning and navigation stacks such as ROS 2, Nav2 or MoveIt.
• Experience with simulation tools such as Isaac Sim, Gazebo or MuJoCo, and sim-to-real transfer.
• Strong C++, Python, Linux and PyTorch skills, plus experience with libraries such as GTSAM, Ceres, Open3D, PCL or OpenCV.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Professional English proficiency in speaking and writing.

Nice to have

• German proficiency at B2 to C1 level.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time, on-site work in Metzingen / Riederich, Germany.
• Hands-on work on real robotic systems from research through production and field deployment.
• Collaboration with Edge AI, hardware and safety teams.