Vision Systems Engineer
About the RoleWe're hiring a hands-on Vision Systems Engineer to own the detection, tracking, and target discrimination software stack for a space-based IR sensing program supporting US national security missions. Your job is the vision algorithms: turning LWIR imagery into high-confidence track and guidance outputs in real time, on embedded space hardware, in demanding engagement environments.What You'll DoYou will own the vision software stack that enables autonomous terminal guidance for a national security space mission. This means building and validating the full pipeline from detection through tracking, state estimation, and discrimination, running on embedded space hardware under hard real-time constraints.Target Detection and Clutter Suppression: Design and implement adaptive detection algorithms against Earth-background and cold-space clutter, including background estimation, non-uniformity compensation, and track-before-detect approaches for high-velocity terminal engagement geometries.Multi-Target Tracking and State Estimation: Design and implement multi-target tracking systems — track initiation, maintenance, correlation, and termination — using Kalman filters (EKF, UKF), IMM filters, and advanced data association methods (JPDA, MHT), generating the full terminal guidance output suite: LOS angles and rates (Az/El) for proportional navigation, target position and relative velocity, range and range rate, predicted intercept point, track confidence and lock flag, and discrimination confidence for GNC handoff.Target Discrimination: Develop and train lightweight CNN classifiers for target vs. decoy discrimination using radiometric imagery, optimized for real-time embedded inference via quantization, pruning, or equivalent techniques, with full synthetic and real data pipelines for training and validation.Simulation Integration and Validation: Integrate algorithms into an existing end-to-end IR scene simulation framework, develop thermal signature models for synthetic training data, conduct Monte Carlo analysis and hardware-in-the-loop validation, and own performance verification against program requirements.Signal Chain & Electronics Integration: Define detector readout architectures, work with analog and digital electronics teams on ROIC interfaces, low-noise signal chains, and high-speed data paths to on-board processorsImage Processing & Embedded Algorithms: Develop real-time image processing pipelines — non-uniformity correction, bad pixel replacement, background suppression, track-before-detect — on embedded FPGA and GPU platformsPerformance Modeling & Test: Build end-to-end radiometric and noise models (NEDT, D*, SNR, clutter metrics), develop test plans, and execute lab and field characterization campaigns.QualificationsEducation:Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field. Advanced degree preferred for senior applicants.Experience:5+ years of professional experience in IR sensor systems, electro-optical payloads, or space-based imaging, preferably in defense, missile defense, or national security space programsTechnical Skills:Strong theoretical and practical experience with state estimation: Kalman filters (EKF, UKF), multi-target tracking concepts, and data association (JPDA, MHT, nearest neighbor)Proficiency in algorithm development in MATLAB and/or Python with demonstrated experience transitioning to C++ for production deploymentExperience training and deploying CNNs or lightweight ML classifiers for real-time embedded inferenceExperience with modeling, simulation, and testing workflows including Monte Carlo analysis, sensor data playback, or hardware-in-the-loop environmentsProficiency in radiometric modeling and performance analysis (NEDT, D*, MTF, SNR, background-limited performance)Signal processing and algorithm development for detection and tracking (C/C++, Python, MATLAB)