Clera

Senior ML Engineer, Perception

San Francisco
Salary
$190,000 - $222,000 annually
Level
Senior
Work type
On-site · San Francisco
Visa
Not offered

Open. First seen 6 November 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

About the Role

Lead perception engineering for a defense technology team developing autonomous systems. You will own the perception stack, from detection and tracking to sensor fusion, and help ensure it performs reliably on real hardware in demanding field conditions.

What You'll Do

  • Set the perception architecture for detection, tracking, classification, and sensor fusion.
  • Develop ML models and training pipelines, then deploy models to embedded devices.
  • Fuse EO/IR and other sensor data relevant to the system.
  • Optimize real-time perception performance for embedded compute and latency constraints.
  • Work closely with robotics, controls, and hardware engineers to deliver practical system capabilities.
  • Mentor perception engineers while contributing directly to implementation.

What We're Looking For

  • At least 5 years building and shipping perception systems on physical hardware.
  • Strong Python and production C++ skills, with experience in computer vision, detection, and real-time tracking on live sensor data.
  • Experience deploying ML models on-device with TensorRT, ONNX, or equivalent, and optimizing for embedded compute and tight latency budgets.
  • Experience building ML training pipelines through deployment and shipping systems tested against real-world targets.
  • Background in perception, robotics, autonomy, aerospace, or defense systems; research-only or offline-only experience is not a fit.
  • Helpful experience includes aerial target tracking, moving-camera compensation, thermal imagery, EO/IR or other sensor fusion, radar or RF perception, and small or long-range target detection.
  • BS, MS, PhD, or equivalent experience in computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, or a related field.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $190,000 to $222,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

On-site in San Francisco, California. The role includes field testing.

What this role asks for

Particular to this role

C++ · Computer Vision

Rare in Clera's other 182 open postings.

Standard for data science / ML roles

Python

Common in data science / ML postings at any company.

Compared with Clera's other open jobs.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 357 open in Engineering. 225 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

LLM (181 of 357), TypeScript (179 of 357), React (155 of 357), Python (150 of 357), Machine Learning (75 of 357), Supabase (73 of 357), PostgreSQL (69 of 357)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

Posting history

Reposted 2 times since 21 October 2026: a posting for this role in San Francisco was taken down and the role was posted again.

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