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Needl · 3 hours ago

Perception Engineer (founding)

San Francisco Bay Area

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level

$200K/yr - $300K/yr

Needl is an early-stage robotics startup focused on building autonomous capabilities for construction machinery. They are seeking a Founding Perception Engineer to architect the core perception stack that transforms sensor data into spatial awareness for teleoperation and autonomy systems.

ConsultingRecruitingStaffing Agency

H1B Sponsored

Hiring Manager

Rob Shannon

Responsibilities

Architect the Perception Pipeline

Design and evaluate 3D perception systems combining LiDAR, cameras, radar, and GNSS/IMU data for rugged, constantly changing outdoor environments

Start Simple, Scale When Needed

Build reliable classical baselines — clustering, tracking, rule-based filters — and evolve to ML/DL models only as data and use-cases demand

Scene Understanding & Visualization

Implement real-time detection, classification, and tracking to give remote operators superhuman situational awareness

Sensor Fusion & Calibration

Deliver robust calibration and fusion across modalities, handling dust, vibration, occlusions, and every other real-world headache

Data & Evaluation Tooling

Build scrappy but solid data-collection, labeling, and evaluation loops to drive rapid iteration

Performance & Reliability

Optimize for real-time execution on embedded compute (e.g., Jetson-class hardware) with low latency and high resilience

Cross-Functional Integration

Work hand-in-hand with controls, teleoperation, and safety systems to ship a cohesive human-in-the-loop autonomy stack

Qualification

3D perception systemsSensor fusionMachine learningReal-time executionData collectionTeam collaborationProblem-solvingAdaptability

Required

Experience in designing and evaluating 3D perception systems combining LiDAR, cameras, radar, and GNSS/IMU data for rugged, constantly changing outdoor environments

Ability to build reliable classical baselines — clustering, tracking, rule-based filters

Experience in implementing real-time detection, classification, and tracking

Skills in delivering robust calibration and fusion across modalities, handling dust, vibration, occlusions, and other real-world challenges

Experience in building data-collection, labeling, and evaluation loops

Ability to optimize for real-time execution on embedded compute (e.g., Jetson-class hardware) with low latency and high resilience

Experience in cross-functional integration with controls, teleoperation, and safety systems