Job Summary:
T3i builds mission-critical unmanned systems designed to improve U.S. forces' operational effectiveness and battlefield lethality. Our Blackfoot platform is a tactical FPV drone system engineered for reliability, adaptability, survivability, and rapid deployment in demanding operational environments.
We operate in tight feedback loops between design, build, test, and field use, where every flight directly informs the next iteration of the platform. We are a small, fast-moving team that values ownership, technical depth, execution, and mission focus.
We are seeking a Computer Vision Engineer (CVE) to develop the Blackfoot’s perception and visual autonomy stack. This role is critical to delivering robust onboard vision capabilities - object detection, tracking, visual-inertial navigation, and last-mile terminal guidance - that perform reliably in degraded, GPS-denied, and EW-contested environments.
The CVE will own the design, training, optimization, and deployment of computer vision models running on resource-constrained embedded hardware, working directly with flight software, autonomy, and hardware teams to translate algorithms into deployed capability.
Position Summary:
The CVE will lead the development of real-time perception algorithms for the Blackfoot platform, including detection, classification, tracking, visual odometry, and target lock / terminal guidance. This role emphasizes building models and pipelines that are not only accurate, but small, fast, and resilient under real-world operating conditions - motion blur, low light, adverse weather, occlusion, and adversarial RF/visual environments.
The ideal candidate is equally comfortable writing custom CV algorithms from scratch, training and optimizing neural networks, integrating models onto embedded computers (Jetson, Hailo, Ambarella, or similar), and iterating against real flight data captured by our test pilots. Strong classical computer vision fundamentals - camera calibration, multi-view geometry, feature matching, and bundle adjustment - are as important as modern deep learning.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives in fast-paced R&D environments where models are deployed to airframes within days, not quarters, and where flight-test feedback directly drives the next training cycle.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Design, train, evaluate, and deploy computer vision models for detection, classification, segmentation, tracking, and re-identification of ground and aerial targets
- Develop and harden visual-inertial odometry (VIO), visual SLAM, and GPS-denied navigation capabilities for tactical FPV operations
- Build and maintain target lock, terminal guidance, and last-mile autonomy perception pipelines aligned with operational mission requirements
- Write custom computer vision algorithms from scratch where library implementations don't meet platform constraints (real-time, embedded, adversarial conditions)
- Own camera and sensor integration: calibration workflows, intrinsic/extrinsic estimation, multi-sensor synchronization, and image pipeline development across RGB, thermal/IR, and stereo modalities
- Optimize models for real-time inference on embedded edge compute platforms (NVIDIA Jetson, Hailo, Ambarella, Qualcomm, or similar) using TensorRT, ONNX, quantization, pruning, and distillation techniques
- Write production-quality C++ and Python inference code integrated with onboard flight software and autonomy stacks; apply GPU/CUDA programming for accelerated processing where required
- Curate, label, and manage flight-collected datasets; build data pipelines for ingestion, augmentation, versioning, and retraining
- Establish evaluation frameworks and validate perception capabilities across the full test stack: unit tests, simulation, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, and live flight testing
- Collaborate with autonomy, flight software, and hardware teams to define camera, sensor, and compute requirements; make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs under SWaP constraints
- Support flight-test campaigns by analyzing onboard video, telemetry, and inference logs to diagnose model failures and prioritize improvements
- Investigate and integrate emerging techniques in foundation models, multimodal perception, sensor fusion, and on-device learning where they advance platform capability
- Harden perception against degraded visual conditions (low light, dust, motion blur, occlusion) and against GPS-denied, EW-contested, and visually adversarial environments
- Document algorithms, models, and pipelines to support team velocity, reproducibility, and customer deliverables
- Operate effectively in outdoor field environments, including supporting data collection events and live flight testing as required
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Applied Math, or related field
- 5+ years of hands-on experience developing and deploying computer vision systems (3+ years with an MS, or 2+ years with a PhD)
- Strong proficiency in modern C++ (C++17 or later) and Python, including writing high-performance code for real-time systems
- Demonstrated experience writing custom computer vision algorithms - not solely applying existing libraries - optimized for real-time performance
- Deep experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow, including custom training pipelines, loss design, and large-scale dataset workflows
- Solid foundation in classical computer vision: camera calibration, multi-view geometry, feature detection/matching, optical flow, bundle adjustment, and pose estimation
- Solid foundation in modern deep learning architectures for vision (CNNs, transformers, detection/segmentation/tracking heads)
- Demonstrated experience deploying CV models to embedded or edge compute platforms with hard real-time and SWaP constraints
- Working knowledge of model optimization techniques: TensorRT, ONNX, quantization (INT8/FP16), pruning, distillation, and compiler-level tuning
- Experience with OpenCV, Eigen, Ceres, and standard CV/robotics tooling
- Experience building and maintaining data pipelines for image and video data at scale
- Ability to validate perception capabilities through simulation, SIL/HIL, and real-world flight test
- Ability to communicate technical results clearly to engineering, autonomy, and program stakeholders
- Ability to operate independently, take ownership of full algorithm lifecycle, and iterate rapidly against field feedback
- Comfortable working in an iterative R&D environment with rapidly changing requirements and priorities
- U.S. Person status required to support ITAR-controlled programs
Preferred Qualifications:
- Master's or PhD in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Robotics, or related field
- Prior experience developing perception or autonomy for UAS, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or defense platforms
- Experience with on-vehicle perception on dynamic platforms (high angular rates, rapid scene changes, motion blur)
- Experience with visual-inertial odometry (VIO), visual SLAM, and GPS-denied navigation
- Experience with single- and multi-object tracking (MOT), re-identification, and tracking through occlusion or sensor handoff
- Experience developing target lock, terminal guidance, or last-mile autonomy systems
- Experience with sensor fusion across camera, IMU, GNSS, radar, LiDAR, or thermal modalities
- Experience with thermal/IR imagery, low-light imaging, event-based vision, or stereo/RGB-D systems
- Experience with GPU/CUDA programming for accelerated computer vision processing
- Experience training and deploying foundation models, vision-language models, or self-supervised learning approaches
- Experience operating in GPS-denied, contested, or EW-affected environments
- Experience with synthetic data generation, sim-to-real transfer, or domain randomization (Unreal/Unity/Isaac Sim, Gazebo)
- Familiarity with NVIDIA Jetson Orin, Hailo, Ambarella, Qualcomm RB-series, or similar edge platforms
- Familiarity with DoD test ranges, COA operations, or military customer environments
- Active or prior security clearance
- Experience working in fast-paced defense or dual-use technology environments
- Publications, open-source contributions, or competition results (KITTI, COCO, nuScenes, etc.) demonstrating CV expertise
Why Join T3i?
- Direct impact on systems supporting U.S. military capability
- Small, highly technical team with rapid decision-making and execution
- Opportunity to shape next-generation tactical FPV platforms from prototype through operational deployment
- High level of ownership and autonomy
- Exposure to advanced autonomy, RF, payload, and tactical UAS development efforts
Type of Employment: Part-Time (20–30 hours/week initially, with potential to transition to full-time)
Travel: ~25% travel to test ranges, customer demonstrations, and field exercises
Compensation: Competitive salary based on experience and qualifications
Clearance Requirements: Desire and ability to obtain a Secret clearance
Required Background Check: HireRight background check & drug screening
T3i Drug Free Workplace Statement:
As a Federal Government Contractor, T3i is required to strictly adhere to federally mandated drug-free workplace standards. To ensure compliance with this requirement, T3i conducts pre-employment drug screening for all new hire personnel (full time, part time, and independent contractor) and annual random drug screening for all current T3i personnel. Personnel who cannot pass drug screening are not eligible for employment with T3i.
