Jetson Perception Engineer (Power & Thermal Optimized)

We are developing a Drone OS that must deliver reliable Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) and BVLOS capability while staying inside the strict power and thermal limits of an NVIDIA Jetson Orin companion computer. We need a perception engineer who knows how to keep computer-vision and AI inference efficient, cool, and reliable in real flight conditions. Responsibilities: Develop and optimize perception pipelines (object detection, tracking, depth, optical flow, etc.) that run efficiently on Jetson Orin Profile and reduce power consumption and thermal load while maintaining required detection performance Integrate perception outputs with the flight controller (PX4/ArduPilot) and higher-level autonomy stack Work closely with our AI full-stack developer and flight test engineer to close the loop between software and real-world flight behavior Implement robust fallbacks and monitoring so the system remains safe when thermal or power limits are approached Support the overall goal of certification-ready BVLOS and DAA performance Requirements: Strong experience with NVIDIA Jetson platforms (Orin Nano / NX / AGX preferred) Hands-on experience optimizing deep learning models for edge devices (TensorRT, quantization, pruning, etc.) Proficiency in Python and C++ for real-time perception pipelines Understanding of power and thermal management on Jetson (nvpmodel, jetson_clocks, power modes, monitoring tools) Experience with ROS 2 or similar robotics middleware is a strong plus Ability to balance accuracy vs. latency vs. power Nice to have: Previous work on drone perception, DAA, or collision avoidance Experience with multi-camera or sensor-fusion perception stacks Familiarity with PX4 / ArduPilot integration U.S.-based preferred Engagement: Part-time to full-time, ongoing project. We will start with a paid technical trial focused on optimizing a perception model for power/thermal constraints. Please include: Examples of Jetson optimization work you have done Tools and techniques you typically use for power/thermal management Your availability and hourly rate