Senior Simulation & Autonomy Engineer

Job Description Senior Simulation & Autonomy Engineer Integration, State Estimation & Perception Location: San Diego, CA (on-site or hybrid) Compensation: $185,000/year Employment Type: Full-Time Citizenship: US Citizenship required; background check and drug screen required Role Summary Lead the integration of autonomy codebases into synthetic testbeds and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) setups for unmanned surface vessels (USVs). Build simulators that exercise onboard autonomy, sensors, and control loops end-to-end. Key Responsibilities Integrate autonomy software—navigation, planning, control, and perception pipelines—with simulators and CI/HITL test infrastructure. Design, implement, and maintain physics-consistent synthetic environments that align dynamics, sensor models, state-estimation, and render/update loops for realistic closed-loop testing. Develop and validate sensor models (GNSS, IMU, DVL, radar, lidar, camera) and measurement noise models; tune them against real-vehicle logs. Implement and test state estimation (EKF/UKF/particle filters) and perception algorithms in the loop; quantify performance and failure modes. Create repeatable test scenarios, automated test harnesses, and performance metrics for autonomy regression testing. Collaborate with software, controls, and UX teams to ensure simulation outputs match onboard expectations and support debugging via replay, logging, and visualization. Support CI pipelines: containerized sims, scenario libraries, test orchestration, and result dashboards. Mentor junior engineers; produce documentation and reproducible experiment artifacts. Required Qualifications BS or MS in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent. 5+ years of experience in robotics, autonomy, or software integration with demonstrable work on simulation and state estimation. Strong C++ and/or Python proficiency; experience with ROS/ROS2 and/or middleware used in robotics systems. Hands-on experience with state estimation tools (EKF/UKF/particle filters), sensor fusion, and perception stacks. Experience building or integrating simulators (Gazebo, Webots, MuJoCo, Unity/Unreal integrations, custom C++/Python sim). Strong understanding of rigid-body dynamics, numerical integration, and discrete-time control loops. Experience with version control, CI/CD, Docker, and automated testing frameworks. Comfortable working with real vehicle logs, calibrations, and sensor synchronization. Nice-to-Have Prior USV or maritime robotics experience. Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL/HITL) and real-time systems. Familiarity with Unreal Engine or Unity for high-fidelity simulation. Experience with GPU-based sensor simulation (ray tracing, lidar simulation). Experience with data visualization and UI integrations for test playback. Culture & Soft Skills Clear communicator; collaborative with product and UX teams. Pragmatic engineer who prioritizes reproducible, measurable tests. Comfortable operating in a startup or hardware-in-the-loop environment. #J-18808-Ljbffr