Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Join Axon and be a Force for Good.

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We explore society’s most critical safety and justice issues through our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. We work better together, connecting with candor and care and seeking diverse perspectives from our customers, communities, and each other.

Life at Axon is fast‑paced, challenging, and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change, constantly growing as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

Are you passionate about AI? Do you love engineering solutions that enable fast, cutting‑edge science? Are you eager to contribute to building products that impact the world for the greater good?

As a Principal ML Engineer at Dedrone, you will architect and implement the platform used by Dedrone scientists to bring safe, secure, reliable AI features to the field of counter UAS devices. Collaborating closely with scientists and software engineers, you will enable new AI capabilities for Dedrone products. You’ll work on a multidisciplinary team across domains such as Multi‑modal Sensor Fusion and Real‑Time Systems with distributed edge computing.

The ideal candidate has a consistent track record of optimizing models for the edge and deploying AI models on devices with limited memory and connectivity, serving users worldwide. You understand the AI lifecycle and can support scientists end‑to‑end along the development of new machine learning models and AI capabilities, leading to responsible AI solutions. You are bold, stand up for the team, and enable drone safety measures across Public Safety, Enterprise, and Defense domains.

Location:

Hybrid from Seattle, WA.

Reports to:

Director of Artificial Intelligence.

• Architect and develop secure, privacy‑preserving, on‑device solutions to enable continuous improvement of existing AI models.
• Collaborate with scientists in architecting and implementing state‑of‑the‑art edge distributed training techniques.
• Implement on‑device monitoring solutions used for continuous model improvement.
• Implement innovative model compression solutions to enable AI at the edge.
• Introduce new techniques that impact model fairness, performance, and platform scalability.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or an equivalent highly technical field.
• 13+ years of software engineering experience and a proven track record of architecting and maintaining large‑scale distributed platforms.
• Experience with AI on chips, on‑device model deployment and management.
• Proficiency in Python, C++, and familiarity with ML frameworks such as Tensor Flow or PyTorch.
• Advanced knowledge and hands‑on experience with on‑chip development.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills and ability to dive into system architecture, design, performance metrics, code, test plans, project plans, deployments, and operations.
• Comfort communicating and interacting with scientists, engineers, and product managers.

• Master’s Degree or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or an equivalent highly technical field.
• Hands‑on experience solving Computer Vision or Natural Language Understanding problems in a business setting.
• Familiarity with responsible AI, de‑biasing, model encryption, and de‑identification techniques.

• Competitive salary and 401(k) with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness programs
• Emotional & mental wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• Snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.

This role is based out of our Seattle, WA office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in‑person collaboration and ask that team members work on site Tuesdays through Fridays, with the flexibility to work remotely on Mondays, unless there is an approved workplace accommodation. We believe that connection fuels innovation, and our in‑office culture is designed to foster meaningful teamwork, mentorship, and shared…