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Perception Engineer, 3D Representation & Navigation

FieldAI· Engineering – Perception
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Irvine, CA$135k - $190kFull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Role focused on building 3D scene and traversability representations for robot navigation, combining perception, mapping, and autonomy to deploy learning-based spatial understanding on real robots.

Responsibilities

  • Own 3D Representation for Navigation (core focus) - Design and build the 3D scene/traversability representations our robots plan and act on — point cloud–based or learned implicit structures — optimized for real-time, on-robot use rather than offline reconstruction quality.
  • Drive a long-term research agenda on learning-based approaches to building these representations — learned traversability, learned surface/reconstruction, geometry-aware embeddings — rather than only integrating existing classical pipelines.
  • Stay close to the current literature on 3D scene representation for navigation — online navigation-mesh construction from streaming point clouds, learned elevation/traversability mapping, topologically-grounded navigation representations — and translate promising ideas into deployable systems.
  • Build and Maintain Perception Systems - Design, implement, and maintain perception systems for autonomous robots operating in real-world environments.
  • Develop localization and mapping capabilities that hold up in unstructured, off-road, and field conditions.
  • Continuously evaluate and improve perception performance through testing, iteration, and field validation.
  • Develop and Integrate Sensor-Based Perception - Implement perception algorithms that fuse data from multiple sensors — LiDAR, cameras, RADAR, inertial sensors.
  • Support integration of new sensing modalities and configurations as platforms evolve.
  • Ensure perception software behaves consistently across simulation and real-world deployment.
  • Deploy Perception Software on Real Robots - Take representations and algorithms from research prototype to production on physical robots.
  • Debug issues discovered during on-robot testing and field operations.
  • Collaborate with autonomy, controls, and platform teams to integrate cleanly into the full autonomy stack.
  • Improve System Robustness and Scalability - Contribute to code quality, testing, and long-term maintainability.
  • Build tools, metrics, and regression tests for representation quality and downstream navigation performance.
  • Help scale representation and perception solutions across multiple robots, environments, and missions.
  • Collaborate Across Teams - Work with engineers, researchers, and field operators to define representation and perception requirements.
  • Communicate technical tradeoffs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Support field operations and customer demonstrations by keeping systems production-ready.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field.
  • 3+ years of experience in verification, validation, systems test, or perception evaluation for robotics, autonomous systems, automotive, or similar domains.
  • Experience working with robotic sensors such as LiDAR, cameras, GPS, and IMUs.
  • Strong understanding of perception system behavior, sensor limitations, and common failure modes.
  • Experience developing test plans, validation procedures, performance metrics, and structured test reports.
  • Experience analyzing logs, datasets, and field results to debug issues and perform root-cause analysis.
  • Strong cross-functional communication skills and the ability to work effectively with development teams while representing an independent V&V function.

Skills

Required:3D representation for navigationsensor fusionlocalization & mappingtesting & validationproduction deploymentcross-functional collaboration
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About FieldAI

Robot intelligence built for the real-world.

FieldAI is the leader in deploying general-purpose robots in unstructured environments, providing a universal brain that works across many robots, and many tasks.

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