Machine Learning​/Perception Engineer

Who is Recruiting from Scratch: Recruiting from Scratch is a specialized talent firm dedicated to helping companies build exceptional teams. We partner closely with our clients to deeply understand their needs, then connect them with top-tier candidates who are not only highly skilled but also the right fit for the company’s culture and vision. Our mission is simple: place the best people in the right roles to drive long-term success for both clients and candidates.

Title of Role: Machine Learning / Perception Engineer
Location: Phoenix, AZ (On-site; relocation required)
Company Stage of Funding: Early-Stage, Venture-Backed
Office Type: On-site, Full-Time
Salary: 160, + Equity

We’re representing a defense technology company advancing the frontier of autonomous swarm robotics. The team is building attritable, networked, tactical swarms of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) capable of executing coordinated missions across complex and unstructured environments.

Led by seasoned founders with backgrounds spanning autonomous vehicles, robotics, and aerospace, the company is applying cutting-edge machine learning and edge AI to some of the most challenging problems in defense autonomy.

As a Machine Learning / Perception Engineer
, you’ll play a pivotal role in developing the perception and navigation systems that power off-road autonomous vehicles. You will:

• Design, implement, train, and test advanced ML models, including:
  • Deep computer vision models
  • Dense disparity prediction models
  • Reinforcement learning models
  • Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models
  • Object detection and panoptic segmentation models
• Optimize models for real-time deployment on edge devices (e.g., Jetson Orin) using quantization and distillation.
• Deploy trained models in the field for live testing and iteration.
• Write robust, production-quality code in Python, PyTorch, and C++.
• Collaborate with SLAM, navigation, tracking, and swarm intelligence teams to deliver integrated autonomy.

• 2+ years of industry experience in ML-related fields.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, mathematics, engineering, or a related field.
• Strong mathematical foundation in neural networks, transformers, convolutional networks, and statistics
  .
• Proficiency with Python, PyTorch, C++, ROS, ONNX, TensorRT
  .
• Familiarity with modern ML and computer vision tools (OpenCV, Num Py, Pillow).
• Strong organizational and communication skills, with the ability to work across teams in a fast-paced startup environment
  .
• Excitement about contributing to defense-focused autonomy systems
  .
• Eligible to work on export-controlled projects.
• Willingness to relocate to Phoenix, AZ
  .

• Salary: Competitive, commensurate with experience
• Equity: Meaningful early-stage ownership stake
• Work Setup: On-site in Phoenix, AZ (relocation support available)
• Other Benefits:
  • Direct ownership of ML systems deployed in the field
  • Opportunity to work across defense autonomy, robotics, and swarm AI
  • Collaborative, mission-driven environment with mentorship from robotics and aerospace leaders

This role is ideal for engineers who thrive at the intersection of machine learning and robotics, want to build perception systems that work in the real world, and are excited to contribute to the next generation of defense autonomy.