Software Engineer - Perception (Fallback Stack)

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co.

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments.

We are looking for a software engineer with expertise in perception for autonomous vehicles or mobile robots. Your contributions will focus on building out key capabilities of our core simulation engine. As a Perception Engineer on the Fallback Stack team, you will build perception capabilities that help autonomous vehicles recognize uncertainty, degradation, and failure—and respond safely. Your work ensures the system knows its limits and can trigger safe fallback behavior or human assistance when needed

In addition to your engineering contributions, by working in our dynamic and customer-focused team culture, you will contribute to and learn from best practices in the nascent autonomy industry. We move fast and we focus on excellence, for our products and for our business. If you are hands-on and looking for a place to have a multiplying effect on making autonomous systems a reality, Applied is the place for you! 

• Design and implement simulation capabilities and workflows to enable cutting-edge real-world perception system development

• Work closely with our sensor simulation team to ensure we build the best range of multi-fidelity simulation models

• Work closely with our infrastructure team to provide the best enterprise software for engineering, testing, and product teams at our customers

• Design perception and uncertainty signals that gate fallback behaviors.

• Deploy production systems that directly impact vehicle safety and ODD expansion

• Experience using ML for uncertainty estimation, confidence calibration, or OOD detection

• Is passionate about turning their domain expertise into tooling that boosts the productivity of teams working on various real-world applications of autonomous systems

• 5+ years of experience in AV, robotics, or safety-critical perception systems

• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python and production-grade software practices

• Has hands-on experience with more than one domain relevant software framework or tools, such as middleware, benchmarking suites, data sets and related pipelines, or algorithmic libraries

• Has worked with production level ML and DL perception algorithms for autonomous vehicles

• MSc or PhD in perception or closely related field

• Experience with degraded sensors, adverse weather, or real-world edge cases

• Deep hands-on expertise in relevant algorithms or methods, such as non-linear optimization, computational geometry, numerical analysis, distributed systems

• Familiarity with fallback systems, MRM concepts, or safety cases (ISO/SOTIF)

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Applied Intuition pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum intended target base salary for new hire salaries for the position. The actual base salary offered to a successful candidate will additionally be influenced by a variety of factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.

Please reference the job posting’s subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the location listed is: $151,000 - $255,000 USD annually. 

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.