Staff Software Engineer, Perception

About Us

With more than 2 million nautical miles sailed and 50,000 days at sea, Saildrone has earned the trust of governments worldwide. Our unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) deliver continuous, real-time intelligence in the toughest oceans on Earth—giving our partners faster awareness, stronger security, and a decisive edge at sea.

Our USVs are long-range, extreme-endurance platforms powered by advanced sensors and proprietary AI - they have been designed to operate where no crewed vessel can. They collect critical insights above and below the surface to support border security, law enforcement, naval operations, and undersea infrastructure protection.

Headquartered in Alameda, CA, with offices in Washington, DC, and global deployment hubs, Saildrone operates missions worldwide. Join a fast-moving, mission-driven team at the intersection of AI, autonomy, and defense technology—where data turns into intelligence, and intelligence drives action.

The Role

Saildrone is seeking a Staff Perception Engineer to join our Perception Engineering team. Reporting to the Engineering Manager, Perception, you will play a critical role in enabling real-time detection, tracking, and classification of vessels across Saildrone’s autonomous fleet. You will architect and deliver perception systems that operate reliably in complex maritime environments, directly advancing Saildrone’s mission to provide persistent maritime intelligence. We are looking for a technical expert who creates clarity from ambiguity, drives high-performance systems from concept to deployment, and thrives in solving hard autonomy problems in real-world conditions.

The Team

The Perception Engineering team is responsible for designing and deploying sensing and perception capabilities that power Saildrone’s autonomous operations. We focus on building robust, scalable perception systems that fuse data from radar, cameras, and other sensors to deliver situational awareness at sea, supporting global maritime domain awareness in national security and defense environments.

The Responsibilities

• Algorithm Development: Design, implement, and optimize perception algorithms (detect, track, classify) to achieve high-fidelity situational awareness in contested maritime environments.
• System Architecture: Be accountable for high-performance C++ systems on NVIDIA Jetson/AGX platforms, ensuring ownership of the real-time "digital overwatch" stack.
• Multi-Sensor Fusion: Work closely with Autonomy and ML teams to architect pipelines that fuse Radar, Camera, and AIS data, utilizing Kalman or Particle filtering to mitigate vehicle motion and wave clutter.
• Sensor Integration: Carry out the evaluation and integration of new sensing technologies, partnering with Hardware and Systems teams to harden hardware-software interfaces for months-long deployments.
• ML & Signal Processing: Monitor for end-to-end system performance bottlenecks, taking action to optimize GPU-accelerated signal processing and machine learning models for onboard execution.
• Regression & Data Science: Adhere to rigorous testing standards by developing large-scale regression frameworks and using Python to analyze mission telemetry and sensor performance.
• User Awareness: Provide timely updates and collaborate with UI/Platform engineers to ensure perception outputs are clearly visualized for remote pilots and navigational safety systems.
• Risk & Lifecycle Management: Perform all responsibilities with a focus on hardening algorithms against environmental degradation, identifying technical risks, and driving mitigation strategies for autonomous survival.

The Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in perception or autonomy, including 3+ years of professional C++ development for real-time embedded systems.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Radar and Camera-based detection, GPU-accelerated computing (CUDA), and the ROS ecosystem.
• Proven ability to solve complex tracking and classification problems in high-noise maritime environments using advanced filtering techniques (Kalman/Particle).
• Ability to clearly communicate technical tradeoffs regarding sensor range, power consumption, and compute constraints to cross-functional stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively in a high-stakes R&D environment, translating ambiguous mission needs (e.g., counter-smuggling) into structured technical requirements.
• Working knowledge of signal processing fundamentals and the deployment of ML models to resource-constrained edge devices (NVIDIA Jetson/AGX).
• Experience with Python for prototyping, data analysis, and large-scale performance tracking preferred.

Location: This position is in Alameda, CA. Our waterfront office offers beautiful views of San Francisco Bay in always-sunny Alameda.

All employees are required to provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. within their first 3 days of work. Please note that the Company does not sponsor employees for work visas or permanent resident cards to work in the U.S. If you need sponsorship for a work visa or green card, you will not be qualified for employment with Saildrone.

Benefits:

• Paid time off, including vacation, bereavement, jury duty, sick time and parental leave
• Comprehensive and competitive medical, dental and vision plans, and HSA with employer matching.
• Company sponsored life insurance
• Stock Options
• Annual stipend for continued learning and development
• Quarterly company BBQs at our Alameda HQ (bring your friends and family!)
• Free Bay Area Public Transportation via AlamedaTMA with the BayPass Clipper Card

Individual compensation packages are based on geographic location, scope of the role, and relevant experience, among other factors.

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