Object Detection and Tracking Engineer

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

What you’ll do:

• Develop advanced perception algorithms — Design and implement robust algorithms for object detection, classification, and multi-target tracking across diverse sensor modalities.


• Implement sensor fusion frameworks — Integrate data from vision systems, radars, and other mission sensors using probabilistic and deterministic fusion techniques to generate accurate situational awareness.


• Develop state estimation capabilities — Design and refine algorithms for localization and pose estimation using IMU, GPS, vision, and other onboard sensing inputs to enable stable and accurate navigation.


• Analyze and utilize sensor ICDs — Interpret interface control documents (ICDs) and technical specifications for aircraft-mounted sensors to ensure correct data handling, interpretation, and synchronization.


• Optimize perception performance — Tune and evaluate perception pipelines for performance, robustness, and real-time efficiency in both simulation and real-world environments.


• Support autonomy integration — Work closely with autonomy, systems, and integration teams to interface perception outputs with planning, behaviors, and decision-making modules.


• Validate in simulated and operational settings — Leverage synthetic data, simulation environments, and field testing to validate algorithm accuracy and mission readiness.


• Collaborate with hardware and sensor teams — Ensure seamless integration of perception algorithms with onboard compute platforms and diverse sensor payloads.


• Drive innovation in airborne sensing — Contribute novel ideas and state-of-the-art techniques to advance real-time perception capabilities for unmanned aircraft operating in complex, GPS-denied, or contested environments.


• Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel around 10-15% of the year (to different office locations, customer sites, and flight integration events).

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience


• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years and a Master’s degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.


• Background in implementing algorithms such as Kalman Filters, multi-target tracking, or deep learning-based detection models.


• Familiarity with fusing data from radar, EO/IR cameras, or other sensors using probabilistic or rule-based approaches.


• Familiarity with SLAM, visual-inertial odometry, or sensor-fused localization approaches in real-time applications.


• Ability to interpret and work with Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and hardware integration specs.


• Proficiency with version control, debugging, and test-driven development in cross-functional teams.

• Hands-on integration or algorithm development with airborne sensing systems.


• Experience with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or Tensorflow, particularly for vision-based object detection or classification tasks.

  • Experience deploying perception software on SWaP-constrained platforms.



• Familiarity with validating perception systems during flight test events or operational environments.


• Understanding of sensing challenges in denied or degraded conditions.


• Exposure to perception applications across air, maritime, and ground platforms.

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