Senior Software Engineer

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER I

Rocket Lab's Optical Systems division solves mission‑critical space domain and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) challenges for Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) customers. Our vision is to revolutionize the space‑based payload market with innovative and novel designs for space, terrestrial, and airborne environments. Building on more than 20 years of electro‑optical and infrared systems innovation from Geost, Optical Systems delivers solutions to the warfighter for responsive, scalable sensing solutions across all orbital domains.

• Collaborate with researchers on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision.
• Perform rapid prototyping and enhanced development to be integrated into operational systems.
• Contribute programming ability and experience to develop solutions for real‑world problems.
• Validate, tune, test, and deploy advanced neural networks and algorithms.
• Perform troubleshooting, bug fixes, and maintenance of existing and new code to ensure stability.
• Ability to support travel or off‑site work, as needed.

• Bachelor's degree in physics, astronomy, mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering or equivalent discipline with 5+ years of experience.
• Experience in building deep learning neural network for computer vision, image processing, or video analysis.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Security Clearance.

• Proficiency in C++ or Python 3.
• Experience with deep learning libraries (PyTorch and Tensor Flow).
• Experience across the deep learning life cycle, including model selection, training, validation, testing, and deployment.
• Understanding of computer vision approaches, such as object detection, image segmentation, re‑Identification, tracking, and super resolution.
• Machine learning experience with 3‑D data.
• Experience curating quality, real‑world datasets for training deep learning models.

This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.

We're on a mission to unlock the potential of space to improve life on Earth, but that's not an easy task. It takes hard work, determination, relentless innovation, teamwork, grit, and an unwavering commitment to achieving what others often deem impossible. Our people out‑think, out‑work, and out‑pace. We pride ourselves on having each other's backs, checking our egos at the door, and rolling up our sleeves on all tasks big and small.

We thrive under pressure, work to tight deadlines, and our focus is always on how we can deliver, rather than dwelling on the challenges that stand in the way.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Rocket Lab Employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, as applicable.

Rocket Lab provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Rocket Lab, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for the application/interview process for a job in the United States should contact Giulia Johnson at  This dedicated resource…