Principal Software Engineer, Perception
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 19, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 18, 2026.
About the Role
As a Principal Software Engineer on the perception team, you will set the technical direction for perception systems used by autonomous maritime platforms. Your work will help vehicles interpret complex ocean environments and provide reliable information for safe autonomous operation.
What You'll Do
Define the architecture for sensor fusion, localization, tracking, mapping, and uncertainty estimation.
Integrate radar, cameras, and other sensor modalities into reliable perception outputs for downstream autonomy.
Partner with autonomy, navigation, and applied machine learning teams to support safe vehicle behavior.
Turn research and algorithms into production systems that meet sensor, compute, latency, and environmental constraints.
Guide technical decisions through architecture reviews and hands-on problem solving, while mentoring and developing engineers.
Shape data labeling, ground truth datasets, and evaluation frameworks to improve system performance.
Contribute technical leadership to future team growth, hiring, and mentorship.
What We're Looking For
At least 8 years of experience in perception or robotics engineering, with staff-level technical leadership or equivalent experience.
Direct ownership of production perception systems for autonomous vehicles or robots.
Deep expertise in sensor fusion, localization, state estimation, tracking, mapping, and probabilistic estimation.
Strong foundations in computer vision, machine learning, and applied mathematics.
Experience with onboard software and inference on constrained edge compute, including latency-sensitive systems.
Familiarity with C++, Python, radar, camera systems, and maritime or other challenging operating environments.
Experience mentoring engineers and setting architecture for complex autonomous systems; an advanced degree is a plus.
Must be a U.S. citizen or green card holder. Visa sponsorship or transfer is not available.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary is $300,000 to $380,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship or transfer is not available.
Location
Hybrid, with three days per week in Alameda, California.