Requisition Number: 30883
Required Travel: 26 - 50%
Employment Type: Full Time/Salaried/Exempt
Anticipated Salary Range: $150,787.00 - $180,000.00
Security Clearance: Secret
Level of Experience: Senior
This opportunity resides with
Uncrewed Systems (UxS), a business group within HII's Mission Technologies division. Uncrewed Systems comprises unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and autonomy software.
HII Unmanned Systems is seeking a Perception Engineer to support our rapidly expanding autonomous systems division. As our new Perception Engineer, you will lead the development and deployment of perception systems that enable our unmanned platforms to intelligently sense, understand, and operate in complex maritime and operational environments.
This role oversees the design, implementation, and optimization of computer vision and sensor fusion pipelines that run on embedded edge hardware in real-world conditions. The position is responsible for building robust perception capabilities including object detection, tracking, state estimation, localization, and situational awareness systems. Responsibilities span architecture and development, sensor integration and calibration, performance optimization for edge compute, real-time system design, and cross-functional collaboration with autonomy, controls, software, hardware, and mission operations teams.
It's your chance to step up to the challenge and prove you're ready to lead the world!
Location: Virginia Beach, VA area!
What you will be doing..Perception Systems Development • Design, develop, and maintain perception pipelines for unmanned maritime systems, including object detection, tracking, localization, state estimation, and SLAM algorithms • Architect and implement sensor fusion systems that integrate data from cameras, LiDAR, radar, sonar, and other sensors to provide robust situational awareness • Develop point cloud processing, filtering, and tracking algorithms for 3D perception in maritime environments • Build and optimize computer vision models and deep learning systems for object recognition, classification, and scene understanding • Implement sensor calibration procedures and algorithms to ensure accurate perception across varied environmental conditions • Design and develop debugging and visualization tools, logging systems, and off-robot data processing pipelines to support development and field operations
Edge Deployment and Optimization • Deploy and optimize perception systems on embedded edge hardware with strict latency and throughput constraints • Apply quantization, pruning, model compression, and other optimization techniques to achieve real-time performance • Develop efficient, maintainable software code that meets
production standards for reliability and performance • Integrate perception outputs into autonomy stacks and mission software, working closely with platform and controls teams • Model sensor performance and integrate perception systems into simulated virtual environments to bridge the sim-to-real gap
Testing and Performance Analysis • Conduct rigorous testing of perception systems on real hardware and in operational environments, including maritime conditions • Evaluate performance through robot testing, sea trials, and data analysis, turning findings into system improvements • Define metrics and evaluation frameworks to monitor deployed system health and performance • Investigate perception failures in the field and drive resolution across engineering teams • Harden existing perception approaches to make them more robust under varied weather, lighting, and sea state conditions
Cross-Functional Collaboration • Partner with autonomy, controls, software, hardware, and product teams to define requirements and integrate perception systems onto unmanned maritime platforms • Support troubleshooting of perception performance in operational environments and during customer deployments • Work with systems, manufacturing, and test engineering teams to define hardware interfaces and ensure successful system integration • Engage with operators and customers to translate field challenges into engineering solutions • Document designs, experiments, and learnings while contributing to improved development processes, tools, and design standards
Technical Leadership • Champion best practices including first-principles thinking, robust testing, code reviews, performance analysis, and real-time system design • Provide technical mentorship to junior engineers and contribute to building a high-performance engineering culture • Set technical direction for perception capabilities and drive architecture decisions • Stay current with state-of-the-art perception and machine learning techniques and evaluate their applicability to unmanned systems
What we are looking for..- 8 years relevant progressive experience with Bachelors in related field; 6 years relevant progressive experience with Masters in related field; or High School Diploma or equivalent and 12 years relevant progressive experience.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Machine Learning, or related field (Master's or PhD preferred)
• Strong software development skills in C++ and Python in production environments, with knowledge of best practices including version control, testing, and code reviews
• Deep expertise in computer vision and perception algorithms including object detection, tracking, state estimation, sensor fusion, SLAM, and sensor calibration
• Experience with point cloud processing, 3D perception, and multi-sensor fusion for robotics applications.
• Hands-on experience deploying perception systems on real robots or autonomous systems, including shipping software on production platforms
• Practical experience with deep learning frameworks and computer vision libraries
• Experience with real-time or latency-constrained systems and edge compute optimization
• Knowledge of maritime sensors including sonar, marine radar, AIS, and specialized cameras
• Ability to explain technical results and trade-offs clearly to teammates, in writing and in person
• Curiosity and a hands-on approach to debugging problems on real hardware and with real-world data
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a government clearance #LI-MH1
Bonus points for..- Experience with maritime, underwater, or surface vessel perception systems
• Background in autonomous vehicle perception for maritime systems
• Track record of technical leadership owning technical projects, setting direction, and collaborating across team
• Familiarity with robotics simulation environments and sim-to-real transfer
• Experience with unmanned systems operations, testing, and field deployment
Physical RequirementsJob performance may require working in an industrial or shipboard environment. Normally not required to lift more than 40 pounds higher than three feet above feet/floor level.
The listed salary range for this role is intended as a good faith estimate based on the role's location, expectations, and responsibilities. When extending an offer, HII's Mission Technologies division takes a variety of factors into consideration which include, but are not limited to, the role's function and a candidate's education or training, work experience, and key skills.
