Senior Perception Engineer

About SE3 Labs

SE3 Labs develops advanced spatial intelligence and autonomous software tailored for unmanned systems, focusing on 3D computer vision, state estimation, and artificial intelligence. Our technology enables autonomous platforms to understand their environment, localize themselves, and operate effectively when GPS and other sensor systems are unreliable, with defence applications as a key area.

The team is rapidly expanding and currently aims to exceed 100 members. Join now to play a pivotal role in shaping the Perception team, contributing to its growth, and increasing your responsibilities as the company scales.

Our founding team is deeply rooted in research with over 90,000 citations, working closely alongside engineers and founders experienced in computer vision and autonomy to transition cutting-edge research into practical field systems.

Role Overview

As a Senior Perception Engineer, you will be instrumental in developing essential components of SE3's perception framework, including object detection and tracking, semantic segmentation, and depth estimation. Collaboration with perception team leaders, founders, and autonomy developers is central, with your innovations tested on both recorded missions and live field trials.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance object detection and multi-object tracking systems for autonomous platforms.
• Create semantic segmentation and depth estimation solutions to provide accurate environmental understanding for autonomous navigation.
• Manage data pipelines by preparing datasets, training diverse models, and selecting the best approaches based on performance evaluations.
• Advance evaluation and replay tools to validate improvements on stored mission data before deployment.
• Optimize models for real-time onboard computing constraints on autonomous platforms.
• Perform field debugging by analyzing mission logs, replicating failures, and addressing root causes to ensure reliable performance under real-world conditions.
• Produce clean, well-tested production code and actively participate in code reviews.

Candidate Profile

• Demonstrates full ownership of projects from inception to deployment, with a strong ability to quickly grasp new domains.
• Possesses an M.Sc. or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Computer Vision, Robotics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related field, complemented by exceptional academic achievements such as top grades, research roles, awards, or competition success.
• Brings at least 2 years of substantive experience at a reputable technology company, research institute, or startup.
• Exhibits genuine passion for computer vision through academic coursework, research projects, or professional experience; returning experts to the field are welcomed.
• Skilled in writing robust production-grade code.
• Has fluency in English; knowledge of German is advantageous. Due to the company's involvement in defence projects, candidates must be eligible to work on defence-related activities and acquire necessary security clearances when required.

Preferred Additional Qualifications

• Authorship or co-authorship of papers in leading conferences such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICML, or ICLR.
• Contributions to open-source projects in computer vision or robotics.
• Experience with robotics or autonomous racing student teams.
• Expertise in deploying models on edge computing devices like Jetson platforms.
• Hands-on experience operating drones or robots in field environments.

Benefits and Work Environment

• Enjoy genuine ownership opportunities through an employee participation program during SE3’s growth.
• Work within a high-calibre, modern, and collaborative environment with flat hierarchies and motivated teammates pushing boundaries together.
• Benefit from AI-augmented workflows that provide access to cutting-edge AI tools and agents for enhanced productivity.
• Receive 31 paid days off annually, including 30 vacation days plus your birthday off.
• Access free memberships to gyms, yoga studios, and wellness activities via EGYM Wellpass.
• Participate in two company retreats per year, with recent locations including Italy and Greece.
• Gain mentorship opportunities by working alongside experienced engineers paired with professional mentors supporting your career growth.

Recruitment Process

• Introductory call lasting approximately 30 minutes to kick off mutual introductions.
• Coding and algorithm interview of 90 minutes focusing on practical computer vision or perception software challenges.
• Technical interview lasting 1 hour to discuss your background in computer vision, system design, project experience, and methods for measuring and debugging model performance.
• Team lunch or dinner to meet colleagues and assess cultural fit.