Engineer II - Perception

Employment Type: Full Time Employee

Position Overview

Shield AI is seeking early-career engineers to contribute to the development of core perception capabilities. This role focuses on advancing the state of the art in GPS-denied navigation, object detection, multi-target tracking, and global mapping for aircraft autonomy. You will work on real-world problems in robotics and computer vision, gaining exposure to the full lifecycle of advanced technology from prototype to production. This is an ideal opportunity for someone early in their career to grow as a developer within a fast-paced, mission-driven environment, collaborating with experienced teammates.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (engineering, production, integration) to implement core features and workflows across the perception stack.
• Design and develop components for video processing and ML/DL pipelines with mentoring and technical guidance.
• Develop both CPU-only and GPU-accelerated variants using technologies like CUDA, OpenGL, and multi-threaded processing.
• Contribute to technical documentation, design reviews, and maintain high code quality.
• Participate in feature planning, including estimation, task breakdown, and sprint delivery.
• Maintain standards and best practices for CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and deployment.
• Take ownership of resolving complex integration and deployment issues across the codebase.

Requirements

• 2+ years of experience in modern C++ (C++11 or later) in a Linux environment.
• Demonstrated experience implementing real-time video/image processing pipelines.
• Strong understanding of multithreading, memory management, and performance optimization.
• Experience with GPU programming (e.g., CUDA, OpenGL) in production environments.
• Proficiency in setting up and maintaining CI/CD workflows for C++ projects.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Nice to Have

• Experience working in a startup, fast-paced, or high-growth environment.
• Experience deploying C++ perception software to embedded or airborne platforms.
• Familiarity with C++ package management (preferably Conan) and deployment automation.
• Experience building software that runs on both x86 and ARM architectures.
• Familiarity with GStreamer, FFMpeg, and OpenCV for media handling and image pipelines.
• Prior integration experience on high-reliability autonomy, aerospace, or robotics platforms.
• Experience working with or developing under DO-178C or similar safety-critical software standards.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $133,704 - $200,556 per year
• Full-time Employee Package: Pay within the listed range + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
• Temporary Employee Package: Pay within the listed range + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Note: Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible.

Company Information

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent, autonomous systems. Its products include Hivemind Enterprise—EdgeOS, Pilot, Commander, and Forge—as well as V-BAT and Sentient Vision Systems (wide-area motion imaging software).

With offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kyiv (Ukraine), and Melbourne (Australia), Shield AI’s technology actively supports U.S. and allied operations worldwide.

For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram.

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