Robotics Software Engineer, Perception

Hadrian is building autonomous factories by combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing to transform aerospace and defense production. The Robotics Software Engineer, Perception will lead the technical direction of the Perception team, defining its roadmap and architecture while building reliable perception systems for industrial robotics. The role also drives sensor fusion, engineering practices, cross-functional alignment, technical hiring, and the integration of research into production systems.

Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the multi-year technical roadmap for the Perception Team; align perception capabilities with the broader Autonomous Factory Systems strategy and surface upstream dependencies and risks early
• Lead architecture of the full perception pipeline — object detection and tracking, semantic and instance segmentation, 6-DoF pose estimation, and scene understanding — designed for the reliability and throughput demands of industrial environments
• Define the integration surface between perception and adjacent systems (motion planning, manipulation, control, simulation); establish clear, well-documented contracts that downstream teams can build against with confidence
• Drive sensor fusion strategy across LiDAR, structured light, RGB, and depth cameras; collaborate with hardware teams on sensor selection and calibration pipelines
• Establish rigorous practices for the team: data collection and labeling pipelines, model training and evaluation workflows, deployment practices, and validation criteria across simulation and real-world environments
• Raise the technical bar in hiring — define role requirements, conduct technical interviews, and assess candidates with the domain depth the field demands; mentor engineers across levels on perception fundamentals and engineering craft
• Represent perception in cross-functional design reviews and planning; engage with hardware vendors and research collaborators where relevant
• Continuously evaluate state-of-the-art research; make deliberate, justified decisions about when and how to incorporate advances into production systems