Computer Vision and Perception Engineer

Develop and deploy real-time computer-vision, tracking, mapping, localization, and perception systems for unmanned aircraft operating on edge-compute hardware.

Department Software

Location Annapolis, Maryland

Region United States

Job type Full-time

Work arrangement On-site

Base compensation $145,000–$200,000 per year

Eligible for an annual performance bonus based on team or department success.

Vanthal Technologies is seeking a Computer Vision and Perception Engineer to develop real-time perception systems for unmanned aircraft and collaborative robotic platforms.

This is a full-time, on-site position based at Vanthal’s operations in Annapolis, Maryland. The role includes model development, perception-software engineering, dataset evaluation, edge deployment, laboratory integration, simulation, and live aircraft testing.

The Computer Vision and Perception Engineer will develop systems for object detection, classification, tracking, visual localization, mapping, scene understanding, video processing, and perception-output generation.

The successful candidate must be capable of taking perception capabilities beyond research notebooks and deploying them as reliable, measurable software on resource-constrained edge computers.

This is not a research-only, data-analysis-only, web-development, or generic artificial-intelligence position. The role requires production software, physical-system integration, performance measurement, and operation under real-world visual and computational constraints.

• Develop real-time computer-vision and perception software
• Develop object-detection and object-classification systems
• Develop multi-object tracking systems
• Develop visual localization and visual-odometry capabilities
• Develop visual SLAM and mapping capabilities where appropriate
• Develop image registration, feature tracking, and motion-estimation methods
• Develop terrain, structure, vehicle, person, and environmental feature detection where appropriate
• Develop perception outputs for navigation, mapping, situational awareness, and human-supervised mission systems
• Develop methods for estimating object position, movement, confidence, and uncertainty
• Develop camera-calibration and sensor-calibration processes
• Develop video stabilization, enhancement, and preprocessing pipelines
• Improve performance under motion blur, vibration, compression, low light, glare, smoke, partial occlusion, and changing viewpoints
• Develop perception pipelines that operate under limited compute, power, storage, and bandwidth
• Optimize models and algorithms for edge-compute deployment
• Convert and deploy models using supported inference runtimes
• Measure latency, throughput, memory use, power use, accuracy, and reliability
• Develop confidence thresholds and failure-detection behavior
• Identify and reduce false positives and false negatives
• Develop dataset collection, curation, annotation, evaluation, and versioning processes
• Define representative training, validation, and test datasets
• Develop repeatable model-evaluation and regression-testing processes
• Analyze performance across environmental and operational conditions
• Integrate perception outputs with autonomy and mission-systems software
• Integrate cameras and perception pipelines with embedded edge computers
• Integrate timestamped imagery with aircraft telemetry and navigation data
• Support multi-sensor fusion where technically appropriate
• Build simulation, replay, and recorded-data test tools
• Develop automated tests for perception software and interfaces
• Analyze recorded video, logs, telemetry, and model outputs
• Diagnose model, software, camera, synchronization, calibration, and hardware-integration problems
• Support laboratory, field, and flight-test activity
• Maintain clear documentation for…