Principal Software Engineer, Perception
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 1, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 31, 2026.
About the Role
As a principal-level perception engineer, you will set the technical direction for perception systems on autonomous maritime platforms. You will work across autonomy, navigation, and applied machine learning to deliver reliable information that supports safe vehicle behavior in challenging ocean environments.
What You'll Do
Define architecture for sensor fusion, localization, tracking, mapping, and uncertainty estimation.
Integrate heterogeneous sensors, including radar and cameras, into reliable perception outputs for downstream autonomy.
Translate research algorithms into robust production systems that meet sensor, compute, latency, and environmental constraints.
Collaborate with autonomy, navigation, and applied machine learning teams to support safe operation in complex conditions.
Provide hands-on technical leadership through architecture decisions, reviews, and problem solving, while mentoring senior engineers.
Guide data labeling, ground-truth dataset development, and evaluation frameworks.
Contribute to team growth through technical leadership, hiring, and mentorship.
What We're Looking For
At least 8 years of experience in perception or robotics engineering, operating at staff or principal technical scope.
Experience building and deploying production perception systems on autonomous vehicles or robots, with direct ownership of perception, sensor fusion, localization, or estimation.
Strong foundations in computer vision, probabilistic estimation, state estimation, tracking, mapping, and related mathematics.
Proficiency with C++ and Python, and experience with machine learning, SLAM, and sensor fusion.
Experience deploying onboard software and running inference on constrained edge compute under real-time latency requirements, such as Nvidia Jetson platforms.
Familiarity with radar, camera systems, and other sensor modalities; maritime or ocean autonomy experience is valuable.
Experience setting architecture and technical direction for complex autonomous systems, and mentoring other engineers.
US Person status, meaning US citizenship or a Green Card, is required. Visa sponsorship or transfer is not available.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary: $300,000 to $380,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location
Hybrid role based in Alameda, United States.