Software Engineer II, Perception
Software engineer and ML practitioner on Aurora's Perception Tracker Team, developing state-of-the-art tracking and perception models (C++/Python, PyTorch) that help the Aurora self-driving driver detect and understand dynamic actors in real-world conditions. Work spans research, large-scale training pipelines, and production deployment on the real-time autonomous driving platform.
- Compensation
- $126K–$201K / yr
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Middle
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 1+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Master's degree or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field (or Bachelor's with 1+ years relevant industry experience)
- Proficient software engineering skills in C++ and Python, writing clean, scalable production-quality code
- Basic knowledge in one or more focus areas: deep learning, computer vision, recursive state estimation, structured prediction, numerical optimization
- Basic knowledge of 3D object tracking algorithms
- Experience with PyTorch, Tensorflow, and/or other deep learning frameworks
Nice to have
- Strong grasp of fundamentals: linear algebra, optimization, supervised/unsupervised methods, Hidden Markov Models
- Hands-on experience with VLM, foundational or world models
- Hands-on experience with CUDA or high-performance GPU programming
- Experience deploying production-grade CV/ML models in real-time computing environments
- Experience automating ML workflows and optimizing training pipelines
- Contributions to open source projects
- Publication record at top-tier robotics/computer vision conferences/journals, or strong industry experience in robotics, computer vision, or self-driving technology
- Proven ability to thrive in highly collaborative, cross-functional engineering environments
Full description
Who we are
Aurora’s mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.
The Aurora Driver will create a new era in mobility and logistics, one that will bring a safer, more efficient, and more accessible future to everyone.
At Aurora, you will tackle massively complex problems alongside other passionate, intelligent individuals, growing as an expert while expanding your knowledge. For the latest news from Aurora, visit or follow us on LinkedIn.
What we are looking for
Aurora hires talented people with diverse backgrounds who are ready to help build a transportation ecosystem that will make our roads safer, get crucial goods where they need to go, and make mobility more efficient and accessible for all.
We are seeking a Software Engineer and Machine Learning practitioner to join the Perception Tracker Team at Aurora. In this role, you will play a critical part in elevating the Aurora Driver’s perception performance and support the expansion of our driverless operational domain across key routes throughout the United States. Your work will be fundamental to scaling our mission, directly contributing to the delivery of self-driving benefits safely, quickly, and broadly.
In this role you will
- Tackle end-to-end perception challenges, including tracking dynamic actors, recognizing actions and attributes, and developing deep semantic understanding of diverse traffic environments.
- Research and develop state-of-the-art machine learning models to enhance perception performance in challenging, real-world scenarios, such as highway versus urban driving, long-range multi-sensor tracking, varying weather conditions, and degraded sensor conditions.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to iterate on the Perception system, translating insights from on-road and simulated testing into robust, high-quality, and well-tested software solutions.
- Drive the software development lifecycle from prototype to production, focusing on large-scale data analysis and the deployment of performing, production-ready solutions on the real-time Aurora Driver platform.
- Contribute to architectural strategy and team collaboration, ensuring our perception systems remain scalable, efficient, and at the forefront of autonomous driving technology.
- Example projects that a candidate could potentially contribute to (list not exhaustive):
- Design and implement state-of-the-art object tracking algorithms.
- Design algorithms to extract, leverage, and fuse complementary information from different sensors.
- Design and implement state-of-the-art ML systems for object tracking and object attribute classification leveraging expertise in recursive state estimation, Hidden Markov models, structured prediction, and sequential models.