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Blue Water Autonomy Inc. · 18 hours ago

Lead Perception Engineer

Lexington, MA

Full-time

Hybrid

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$215K/yr - $250K/yr

7+ years exp

Blue Water Autonomy Inc. is an early-stage maritime defense technology startup focused on designing autonomous ships. They are seeking a Lead Perception Engineer to architect and implement perception and sensor ingestion systems for maritime navigation, ensuring robust performance in real-world conditions.

Machinery ManufacturingManufacturingMarine TransportationShipping

No H1B

U.S. Citizen Only

Responsibilities

Design and implement the full perception stack for autonomous maritime navigation, including:

+ Multi-camera perception (detection, classification, tracking)

+ Sensor fusion across vision, navigation sensors, and future modalities

+ Interfaces to planning, control, and autonomy systems

Architect sensor data ingestion pipelines, including:

+ Reliable, time-synchronized ingestion of high-bandwidth sensor streams

+ Scalable abstractions that support evolving sensor configurations

+ Data formats and APIs that enable downstream perception, logging, and replay

Define system-level requirements, performance metrics, and validation strategies for perception and sensor ingestion in maritime environments

Build production-quality perception and ingestion pipelines in modern C++ and Python, from raw sensor input through onboard runtime deployment

Develop and deploy machine learning–based perception models, including optimization for onboard and embedded compute

Where appropriate, implement GPU-accelerated components (e.g., CUDA) to meet latency, throughput, and power constraints

Own dataset curation, model evaluation, regression testing, and continuous performance improvement

Lead and participate directly in field testing, sensor bring-up, and data collection on vessels

Design and execute sensor calibration, synchronization, and validation procedures

Build robust logging, replay, and annotation workflows to ensure high-quality training and evaluation data

Work hands-on in real operating conditions to validate both sensors and ingestion pipelines

Partner closely with Mechanical, Electrical, and Systems Engineering teams to:

+ Define camera and sensor requirements

+ Influence sensor selection, placement, and mounting

+ Ensure ingestion pipelines reflect real hardware constraints and failure modes

Collaborate with autonomy and controls engineers to define perception outputs that enable safe and reliable navigation decisions

Serve as the technical owner of perception and sensor ingestion within the autonomy organization

Establish engineering best practices, coding standards, and architectural patterns

Mentor and help hire future perception engineers as the team grows

Qualification

Perception systemsSensor fusionModern C++PythonSensor data ingestionMachine learning modelsGPU programmingTechnical leadershipField operationsTechnical communication