Staff Engineer, Computer Vision (C++)

About the role

This role is for a Computer Vision C++ Engineer to support the development of real-time perception capabilities for Shield AI's autonomous systems. The Computer Vision Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and integrating advanced computer vision algorithms into high-performance C++ software pipelines. The role will focus on building custom perception capabilities from the ground up, with an emphasis on real-time performance, reliability, and deployment in edge compute environments. This position is required to increase the team's capacity and technical depth in real-time computer vision, image processing, and applied machine learning.

Key responsibilities

• Design, develop, and integrate advanced computer vision algorithms into high-performance C++ software pipelines
• Build custom perception capabilities from the ground up with emphasis on real-time performance and reliability
• Develop geometry-based computer vision pipelines, including camera modelling, intrinsic and extrinsic calibration, and image-to-world projection
• Support applications such as geolocation from imagery, visual registration, and multi-sensor spatial alignment
• Translate research concepts into deployable software
• Work on bespoke algorithms rather than relying only on existing libraries
• Own technical work from ambiguous requirements through algorithm design, implementation, integration, and delivery
• Collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary cross-functional teams, including AI experts, robotics engineers, and optical engineers

About you

• Degree in Computer Vision, Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field
• Deep proficiency in C++, with proven experience developing software in high-performance, real-time environments
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing custom computer vision algorithms from scratch, rather than exclusively applying existing libraries
• Solid foundational understanding of computer vision, image processing, and machine learning principles
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, performance optimization, and version control
• Ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary cross-functional teams to deliver reliable edge solutions
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (preferred)
• Experience with object detection, target tracking, 3D reconstruction, SLAM, camera calibration, or behaviour analysis (preferred)
• Background in automated video surveillance or other related real-time vision systems (preferred)
• Familiarity with industry-standard vision toolkits, such as OpenCV (preferred)

About us

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.