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Salary: USD 259,649 - 305,469 / annual
Saildrone is a maritime defense company and global leader in autonomous unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with combat-deployed systems supporting national security operations worldwide. The company operates manufacturing and R&D headquarters in Alameda, CA, with additional offices in Washington, DC, and deployment hubs in Europe and the Middle East.
You will join the Robotics Software Organization as Senior Engineering Manager, Perception, reporting directly to the Director of Robotics Software. This role combines strategic people management with deep technical ownership, requiring you to architect, implement, and productionize next-generation perception software for Saildrone's autonomous drone fleet.
The Perception Engineering Team designs and deploys advanced sensing and perception capabilities powering autonomous maritime operations. The team processes petabytes of unique, multi-modal ocean data collected across millions of nautical miles, solving complex visual challenges including target tracking amidst wave clutter, severe vehicle motion, and changing atmospheric conditions.
Key responsibilities include leading and scaling an elite engineering team with high-impact technical mentorship and career development while remaining hands-on with core architecture and code reviews. You will be accountable for delivery, reliability, and edge performance of real-time perception software running on uncrewed platforms during months-long ocean deployments. You'll partner with Autonomy, Machine Learning, Systems, and Hardware teams to align on product roadmaps, manage cross-functional dependencies, and ensure seamless sensor-to-actuation integration.
You will drive day-to-day execution using C++, state-of-the-art robotics perception and ML software, and agile methodologies to maintain high-velocity development cycles and production-grade standards. Responsibilities include identifying system bottlenecks, algorithmic risks, and team blockers, implementing strategic mitigations to optimize high-performance compute on embedded platforms like NVIDIA Jetson. You will establish robust validation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and simulation frameworks leveraging large-scale maritime datasets to guarantee deterministic safety and performance.
Required qualifications: 8+ years progressive software experience in robotics, drones, or autonomous driving, with 2+ years direct engineering management or technical leadership. Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related technical discipline. Exceptional proficiency in modern C++ (14/17/20) and production-grade software development for Linux embedded environments. Deep understanding of perception fundamentals including multi-object tracking, 3D computer vision, multi-sensor calibration, or deep learning deployment at the edge. Proven experience with complex maritime sensor stacks, integrating and fusing raw data from long-range cameras, marine Radar, LiDAR, and AIS electronics. Experience building ingestion pipelines, auto-labeling frameworks, or regression workflows optimized for petabyte-scale, edge-case-heavy dataset exploration.
The role requires a hybrid schedule with 3 days per week onsite at the Alameda waterfront headquarters. Occasional collaboration with hardware teams in laboratory or dock environments may involve standing, bending, and light handling of test payloads or sensors up to 30 lbs.
