Senior Manager, Perception (R5914)

Shield AI is hiring a Senior Manager, Perception (R5914) in Washington DC, United States. It pays $240k-$360k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Shield AI.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
The posting mentions computer vision among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a senior role.
Shield AI has 659 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

computer-vision

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description: As a member of the HMS Perception team, you will conduct software development at the intersection of classical state estimation techniques, sensor fusion, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and machine perception. You will develop cutting-edge technology onto real hardware that provides robust and accurate estimates of vehicle pose and surroundings for real missions. Shield AI is pushing the envelope by applying advanced AI solutions to real hardware systems. An ideal candidate should aspire to be a part of this industry-changing team developing and deploying advanced technology that can truly make an impact. We are seeking a skilled and motivated leaders with 10+ years of experience to manage a technical team supporting the development, integration, and testing of perception algorithms for advanced aerospace, defense, and robotics systems. In this role, you will contribute to implementing and integrating innovative perception solutions while collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of engineers to meet challenging operational requirements.

What you'll do:

Lead teams across autonomy, integration, and testing by aligning technical efforts, resolving cross-functional challenges, and driving mission-focused execution. Balance hands-on technical oversight with performance optimization, innovation, and clear stakeholder communication.
Write production quality software in C++
Produce an Assured Position, Navigation, and Timing (A-PNT) system to enable reliable autonomy in GNSS-degraded or denied environments
Extend and specialize Shield AI’s state-of-the-art state estimation framework for new sensors, platforms, and missions
Write test code to validate your software with simulated and real-world data
Collaborate with hardware and test teams to validate algorithms/code on aerial platforms
Write analyzers to ingest data and produce statistics to validate code quality
Enhance sensor models within a high-fidelity simulation environment
Work in a fast-paced, collaborative, continuous development environment, enhancing analysis and benchmarking capabilities

Required qualifications:

BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience
Ability to develop, benchmark, debug, and deploy software-based algorithms
Demonstrated problem solving skills by applying a scientific approach
Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years and a Master’s degree; or 8 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience
2+ years managing technical teams.
Demonstrated experience integrating and working with sensor payloads in the DoD space
Proficient with sensor fusion for noisy high-bandwidth exteroceptive sensors on compute-constrained systems
A solid foundation in theory related to state estimation, object detection, data association, probabilistic robotics, and signal processing.
Experience working projects with 10+ contributors
Offers Fast, efficient, effective problem solving approaches
Exceptional collaborator and communicator
Comfortability within Unix environments
Hard-working, trustworthy teammate
Exhibits holding themselves and others to high standards
Being kind to others
Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance

Preferred qualifications:

MS or greater in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience
Understanding of robotics technologies related to autonomous behavior development e.g. task allocation or planning.
Understanding/Experience with unmanned system technologies and accompanying algorithms (specifically air domain)
Familiarity with high-fidelity simulation and sensor modeling
Working knowledge of Kalman Filter, Factor Graphs and other modern estimator fundamentals.
Strong working knowledge of Computer Vision with hands-on experience with OpenCV or similar CV libraries.
Experience developing sensor effects (control) algorithms.
Hands-on experience developing or implementing state of the art object detection/recognition pipelines.
Active SECRET clearance
Experience with UCI and OMS Standards

#LI-ED1 #LE
Full-time regular employee offer package: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity Temporary employee offer package: Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment) Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information. ### Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

How we rate this

Senior Manager, Perception (R5914) at Shield AI rates 84 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Senior Manager, Perception (R5914) is an open job at Shield AI.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $240k-$360k a year.
The role is based in Washington, D.C..
The job was posted on August 1, 2025.
Seniority: senior.
Applications are handled by Shield AI. Apply on Shield AI

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Computer vision

Questions you could be asked

Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Computer vision. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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