Senior Perception Software Engineer (Robotics)

TL;DR

Senior Perception Software Engineer (Robotics): Developing perception algorithms for unmanned surface vehicles to enable autonomous navigation in remote maritime environments with an accent on sensor fusion, real-time detection, and tracking pipelines. Focus on optimizing algorithms for embedded hardware and validating performance against real-world ocean conditions.

Location: San Diego, CA (in-office). Must be a U.S. person (citizen, permanent resident, asylee, or refugee) due to export control laws.

Salary: $180,000 - $250,000 + stock options

Company

hirify.global develops unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for persistent maritime monitoring and data acquisition for defense, scientific, and commercial customers.

What you will do

• Design and implement perception algorithms for detection, tracking, avoidance, and state estimation.
• Integrate ML models with classical algorithms into the perception pipeline.
• Optimize code for real-time execution on compute-limited embedded platforms.
• Develop tests and expand simulation environments to evaluate algorithms and prevent regressions.
• Lead sensor selection and evaluation based on performance, power, and cost tradeoffs.
• Mentor teammates and improve software engineering practices across the perception stack.

Requirements

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, with 4+ years focused on perception problems in fielded systems.
• Expertise in real-time sensor data processing (camera, radar, LiDAR) on embedded platforms.
• Strong command of classical perception: clustering, segmentation, sensor fusion, and probabilistic tracking.
• Expert-level Python proficiency including the scientific stack (NumPy, SciPy, OpenCV).
• Solid grounding in 3D geometry, coordinate frames, and sensor calibration.
• Must be a U.S. person as defined by U.S. export control laws.

Nice to have

• Experience training or fine-tuning ML models for perception tasks.
• C++ for performance-critical components.
• GPU acceleration experience (CUDA, CuPy, Numba).
• Knowledge of ROS or similar robotics middleware.
• Experience with maritime or acoustic data.

Culture & Benefits

• Stock options and 401k matching up to 4%.
• Comprehensive insurance (99% employer-covered Gold HMO plan).
• Unlimited/Flex PTO.
• Pet-friendly office with four free lunches per week.
• Employee activity fund.