Perception Engineer | Robotics Software Engineer

This range is provided by Mansfield Black. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

$/yr - $/yr

Mansfield Black are hiring a Perception Software Engineer on behalf of a well-funded, seed-stage autonomous systems startup in Robotics & Maritime industry

This is a founding-level role at a well-funded, hardware-first startup building autonomous systems where sensor data is messy, environments are unpredictable, and decisions matter
.

The team is lean, senior, and execution-focused, and this hire will own a core system that directly determines product success.

This environment suits engineers who want real ownership, fast iteration, and direct exposure to deployed systems — not large-company structure or research-only work.

You will own the perception system for a real autonomous vehicle operating in the physical world. Not research. Not demos. Not simulations that never ship.

• Meaningful equity
• Full benefits
• Onsite in LA 5 days per week. usually 9am-6pm
  - Full relocation can be offered.
• VISA or sponsorship is not available

• Design and ship production-grade perception pipelines
• Fuse data from multiple real-world sensors into a coherent model of the environment
• Own perception end-to-end — from algorithm choice to field performance
• Debug systems where data is noisy, incomplete, and imperfect
• Work closely with autonomy, hardware, and field teams to deploy and iterate quickly
• You have 4–8 years of experience building real-world perception systems
• You are strong in C++ and Python
• You have shipped perception or sensor-fusion code to production
• You’ve worked on physical systems (robotics, autonomy, vehicles, drones, hardware-adjacent software)
• You are comfortable making pragmatic tradeoffs instead of chasing theoretical perfection
• You thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• You can work on-site in Los Angeles, 5 days/week
• You want a role that is not just simulated or research based

• Experience with autonomy stacks or robotics frameworks (e.g., ROS)
• Sensor fusion, SLAM, object tracking, or mapping experience
• Maritime, offshore, or field-deployed robotics exposure
• Startup or fast-iteration environment experience

• Mid-Senior level

• Full-time

• Engineering and Information Technology
• Robotics Engineering, Software Development, and Maritime Transportation