Senior Computer Vision Engineer

Location: Sausalito, California, United States

Workplace: on_site

Employment Type: full

Description

Company Description

iMETALX, Inc. is creating a future where space is accessible and sustainable for all. We provide space domain awareness (SDA) and in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) solutions for governments and commercial customers. Our work spans spacecraft autonomy (world view, perception, and controls) as well as testing and deploying software on real systems.

We are building a small, high-impact team working on cross-domain applications that leverage state-of-the-art computer vision, machine learning, and autonomy. This includes both space applications (ISAM & SDA) and terrestrial analogs that use similar technologies. You will be joining at a stage where your ideas and ownership meaningfully shape the technical direction, culture, and impact of the company.

Role Overview:

We are seeking Computer Vision Engineers (mid to senior level) to design, implement, and optimize computer vision and machine learning algorithms for RPOD, ISAM, and SDA applications. In this role, you will focus on building robust, production-quality perception systems that run on real space-relevant and terrestrial platforms.

You will work closely with the Head of Computer Vision and the broader engineering team to take algorithms from concept to deployment: implementing models in Python and C++, integrating them into larger autonomy systems, and validating performance through simulation and hardware testing.

Key Responsibilities:

• Implement, optimize, and maintain CV/ML pipelines in Python and C++ for perception, tracking, pose estimation, and world modeling.
• Design and optimize computer vision pipelines tailored to RPOD, ISAM, and SDA mission requirements.
• Own end-to-end software quality: testing, debugging, performance profiling, and reliability.
• Conduct software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing to validate performance and robustness in mission-like scenarios.
• Integrate CV modules with simulation tools, customer interfaces, and downstream autonomy components (e.g., controls and planning).
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver end-to-end capabilities for our space and terrestrial customers.
• Stay up to date on relevant research and tools in computer vision and applied ML; help identify which ideas are most promising to implement.

Who You Are

• Strong programmer beyond just Python:
• Deep programming fundamentals and proficiency in at least one language in addition to Python (e.g., C++, Rust, CUDA).
• Comfortable working in larger, evolving codebases with version control (Git), testing, and CI/CD.
• Extreme ownership and end-to-end thinking:
• Demonstrated experience taking projects from concept through implementation, testing, and deployment (personal, academic, or professional).
• Able to explain the hardest problems you solved, how you evaluated success, and how you handled the gap between theory and implementation.
• Open-minded, ambitious, and constructive:
• Energized by ambitious, “seemingly impossible” ideas and able to iterate on them constructively rather than dismissing them outright.
• Communicate clearly why something may not work, propose alternatives, and help converge on a viable path.
• Lifelong learner with genuine curiosity:
• Keep up with research and technology in computer vision and ML; can point to recent papers, projects, or ideas that excited you and explain why.
• Culture and collaboration:
• Value transparency, candid communication, and working through hard problems together.
• Enjoy small, collaborative teams where you can both lead and be challenged.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• 2–10 years of professional experience in software engineering or applied ML/computer vision.
• Strong programming skills in Python and C++, with evidence of building and maintaining production-grade systems.
• Experience with one or more of:
• Computer vision, robotics perception, autonomous systems, or similar fields where reliability and performance matter.
• Experience working in Linux environments and with modern development workflows (Git, code reviews, testing).
• Ability and willingness to work on-site in Sausalito, CA.
• U.S. citizenship due to ITAR export-control restrictions, only U.S. citizens are eligible for this position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior work on robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones, or other SWaP-constrained systems.
• Experience integrating with simulation environments, cloud tools, or complex APIs.
• Exposure to CUDA, GPU acceleration, or performance optimization.
• Experience with advanced perception pipelines.

Electrical Engineering, Robotics, and Hardware (Preferred)

Electrical engineering and robotics expertise are strong pluses but not hard requirements for this role. Preferred experiences include:

• Experience with embedded systems, or hardware integration for perception/ML systems.
• Familiarity with sensors such as IMUs, LiDAR, EO/IR cameras, and related calibration/integration workflows.
• Hands-on work with SWaP-constrained platforms (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson, FPGAs, or similar).

Benefits

• Competitive Salary
• Health Insurance/Dental
• Paid Time Off
• 401k
• Performance Bonus
• Equity