a16z Senior Software Engineer, Perception (R5420)
Summary
Develop and deploy advanced machine learning models for autonomous systems, focusing on perception challenges using vision, vision-language, and vision-language-action models in a defense-tech environment.
In this role, you'll develop and deploy advanced machine learning models that solve real-world perception challenges for autonomous systems. You'll own major features from model development through deployment, working closely with machine learning researchers, perception engineers, autonomy engineers, and platform teams to bring cutting-edge AI capabilities into production. This is an ideal opportunity for engineers who enjoy solving difficult perception problems while building reliable, production-ready ML systems that operate on autonomous platforms in complex operational environments.
What You'll Do:
Model Development – Design, train, fine-tune, and maintain state-of-the-art vision, vision-language, and vision-language-action models that improve perception and decision-making for autonomous systems.
Data Pipelines & Model Training – Build scalable data pipelines, supervised fine-tuning (SFT) workflows, and evaluation loops that continuously improve model performance on mission-relevant tasks.
Model Deployment & Optimization – Deploy and optimize machine learning models for embedded hardware using technologies such as ONNX, TensorRT, and hardware-accelerated inference frameworks.
Perception & Autonomy Applications – Apply modern machine learning techniques to solve challenging perception and autonomy problems across aerial and other autonomous systems operating in complex, real-world environments.
Research-to-Production – Translate cutting-edge machine learning research into production-ready capabilities by balancing model performance, robustness, computational efficiency, and operational reliability.
Cross-functional Collaboration – Partner closely with perception, autonomy, platform, and software engineering teams to integrate machine learning capabilities into mission-ready autonomous systems.
Model Evaluation & Validation – Develop benchmarks, testing methodologies, and evaluation frameworks to measure model performance, identify failure modes, and guide future improvements.
Continuous Improvement – Improve training infrastructure, developer tooling, deployment workflows, and model lifecycle management to accelerate experimentation and production delivery.
Required Qualifications:
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Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 4 years and a Master’s degree; or 2 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
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Prioficiency of machine learning fundamentals.
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Experience training an deploying ML models for computer vision in a production setting.
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Strong understanding of 3D vision problems/algorithms.
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Experience with machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch and TensorFlow.
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Demonstrated expertise in deploying models using TensorRT and ONNX.
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Proficiency in C++ and Python.
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Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate research into practical applications.
- Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance
Preferred Qualifications:
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Experience with developing autonomous systems for defense customers.
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Experience with training/finetuning vision-language models, vision-language-action models, and/or world models.
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Contributions to open-source projects in machine learning or computer vision.
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Track record of publications in leading computer vision and robotics conferences and journals (e.g., CVPR, ICCV/ECCV, RAL, ICRA).