Software Engineer: Perception

<h3>About Lodestar</h3> <p>Lodestar's mission is to develop the first "Protect and Defend" capability for high-value space assets in orbit. Our flagship product<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><em>MITHRIL</em><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>is the critical hardware &amp; software necessary to augment any off-the-shelf spacecraft with the ability to autonomously detect, characterise, and reversibly neutralise orbital threats. By building on the proven space heritage of our best-in-class satellite-bus partners and fully integrating<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><em>MITHRIL</em><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>as a single platform, we deliver a fully autonomous end-to-end protection spacecraft service.</p> <h3><strong>About the Job</strong></h3> <p>As a<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>Software Engineer - Perception</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>at Lodestar, you’ll be joining the perception and machine vision teams to rapidly grow our vision and perception models at<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><em>MITHRIL’s</em><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>center. You’ll focus on researching and building algorithms to detect, classify and understand unknown space targets in real-time. By combining computer vision, image processing and machine learning, you’ll develop custom models - providing the foundation for autonomous decision-making in complex and uncertain space environments.</p> <p>We proudly have an "extreme ownership" oriented engineering culture.&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3><strong>What You’ll Do</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Scoping architecture for the perception system core to Lodestar’s autonomy software suite</li> <li>Research and adapt novel perception algorithms - everything from lit. review, through training and evaluation, to optimisation and deployment</li> <li>Design, develop ML algorithms from the ground up, in addition to build on and optimizing our existing models for edge computing</li> <li>Further develop our robust methods for predicting relative pose of dynamic space targets in harsh and unpredictable visual environments</li> <li>Integrate perception models into mission simulation environments and real-time autonomy pipelines</li> <li>Contribute to the design of realistic sensor models and digital twins to improve perception fidelity in mission scenarios</li> <li>Own perception tooling, model training infrastructure, and evaluation frameworks for ongoing development and deployment</li> <li>Collaborate across autonomy, estimation, and mission software teams to ensure perception fidelity, performance, and scalability</li> </ul> <hr> <h3><strong>Basic Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in, AI/ML, Computer Science, Robotics, a related field, or equivalent experience</li> <li>2+ years of distinguished industry experience in Machine Learning, robotics, computer vision, or a related field</li> <li>Excellent software engineering skills in C++ and Python</li> <li>Strong DNN/ML background and experience in CV and image processing libraries (OpenCV, CUDA-accelerated vision, PCL)</li> <li>Broad understanding of modern perception systems and their architecture</li> <li>Experience developing and deploying ML models to real-time systems</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Preferred Skills &amp; Experience</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Experience processing sensor measurements from a variety of sensors including RADAR, electro-optical sensors, RF sensors, or LIDAR</li> <li>Familiarity with image processing techniques (e.g., feature extraction, segmentation, filtering, stereo matching) to support 3D reconstruction and target classification</li> <li>Track record optimizing neural networks and geometric algorithms using&nbsp;CUDA kernels, TensorRT, or other GPU acceleration frameworks</li> <li>Experience with distributed training and cloud-based scaling of ML models (AWS, GCP, or Azure)</li> <li>Experience with Linux, Git, and CI/CD pipelines</li> <li>Comfortable with containerization tools such as Docker and Kubernetes</li> <li>Strong understanding of networking and communication protocols for distributed autonomy systems</li> </ul> <hr> <h3>ITAR Requirements</h3> <p><em>To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&amp;sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987">here</a>.</em></p> <hr> <h3><strong>Compensation &amp; Benefits</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Pay Range: <ul> <li>(E1) Junior Software Engineer: $115,000 - $140,000 / year</li> <li>(E2) Software Engineer: $140,000 - $180,000 / year</li> <li>(E3) Senior Software Engineer: Competitive</li> </ul> </li> <li>Meaningful equity incentives as part of our employee option pool</li> <li>Flexible PTO with generous paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave</li> <li>Comprehensive medical, dental &amp; vision coverage</li> <li>401(k) retirement plan with company match</li> <li>Los Angeles</li> </ul> <hr> <h3>Additional Information</h3> <p><em>Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>form of stock options</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>, and access to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>medical, vision and dental coverage</strong>, as well as<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>access to a 401(k) retirement plan</strong>.</em></p> <p><em>Lodestar is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Lodestar is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.</em></p>