Perception & Vision-Aided Navigation Engineer with ...

Overview Draper is an independent, nonprofit research and development company headquartered in Cambridge, MA. The 1,800 employees of Draper tackle important national challenges with a promise of delivering successful and usable solutions. From military defense and space exploration to biomedical engineering, lives often depend on the solutions we provide. Our multidisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists work in a collaborative environment that inspires the cross-fertilization of ideas necessary for true innovation. For more information about Draper, visit . Our work is very important to us, but so is our life outside of work. Draper supports many programs to improve work-life balance including workplace flexibility, employee clubs ranging from photography to yoga, health and finance workshops, off site social events and discounts to local museums and cultural activities. If this specific job opportunity and the chance to work at a nationally renowned R&D innovation company appeals to you, apply now . Equal Employment Opportunity Draper is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. We understand the value of diversity and its impact on a high-performance culture. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. Draper is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation, please contact . Responsibilities Draper''s Perception and Embedded Machine Learning Group seeks an engineer to help develop, integrate, and deploy advanced perception systems, including for autonomous vehicles and robots able to operate in complex environments such as underwater, ground, air, and space. Examples of previous systems developed by our group include vision-based Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) for guided parafoils or spacecraft landing , vision-aided inertial navigation for UAVs , localization systems for teams of soldiers , and real-time 3D mapping . The role will involve developing and integrating state-of-the-art vision-aided navigation algorithms that enable vehicles and users to navigate or operate in GPS-denied environments. The candidate should have knowledge of vision-aided navigation, GPS-denied navigation, and/or sensor fusion algorithms and experience working with these classes of algorithms when integrated into larger systems. The candidate should be capable of contributing to and integrating state-of-the-art algorithms, analyzing data from simulation and field tests, and effectively working within multi-disciplinary teams. Qualifications Required qualifications include the following: * MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, or a similar technical field of study, or a BS with significant experience * Experience with stochastic estimation algorithms (e.g., Extended Kalman Filters) * 2+ years of algorithm and software development and integration experience for autonomous systems (may include relevant graduate research experience) * Programming experience in C++ * Good written and spoken communication skills Desired qualifications include the following: * Research or technical contributions in one or more of the following fields: vision-aided navigation, inertial navigation, computer vision, perception, mapping, sensor fusion * Exposure to adjacent subfields of robotics, such as: trajectory or motion planning; planning under uncertainty; optimal control; guidance, navigation & control (GN&C) * Experience working in large codebases as a member of a multi-developer team using collaboration tools such as Git * Programming experience in Python, Rust, Julia, or Matlab * Experience working in a Linux development environment and with Robot Operating System (ROS) Ability to obtain a government security clearance is required. Only US citizens can apply. ** Draper has implemented a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement for all Draper employees. This will be a condition of employment to work at Draper .

Created: 2025-11-15