Definition

Software Engineer - Perception (Fallback Stack)

Applied Compute

Applied Compute

Software Engineering
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Posted on Mar 20, 2026

Location

Sunnyvale

Employment Type

Full time

Department

Self-Driving Systems

About the role

We are looking for a software engineer with expertise in perception for autonomous vehicles or mobile robots. Your contributions will focus on building out key capabilities of our core simulation engine. As a Perception Engineer on the Fallback Stack team, you will build perception capabilities that help autonomous vehicles recognize uncertainty, degradation, and failure—and respond safely. Your work ensures the system knows its limits and can trigger safe fallback behavior or human assistance when needed

In addition to your engineering contributions, by working in our dynamic and customer-focused team culture, you will contribute to and learn from best practices in the nascent autonomy industry. We move fast and we focus on excellence, for our products and for our business. If you are hands-on and looking for a place to have a multiplying effect on making autonomous systems a reality, Applied is the place for you!

At Applied Intuition, you will:

  • Design and implement simulation capabilities and workflows to enable cutting-edge real-world perception system development

  • Work closely with our sensor simulation team to ensure we build the best range of multi-fidelity simulation models

  • Work closely with our infrastructure team to provide the best enterprise software for engineering, testing, and product teams at our customers

  • Design perception and uncertainty signals that gate fallback behaviors.

  • Deploy production systems that directly impact vehicle safety and ODD expansion

We're looking for someone who has:

  • Experience using ML for uncertainty estimation, confidence calibration, or OOD detection

  • Is passionate about turning their domain expertise into tooling that boosts the productivity of teams working on various real-world applications of autonomous systems

  • 5+ years of experience in AV, robotics, or safety-critical perception systems

  • Proficiency in C++ and/or Python and production-grade software practices

  • Has hands-on experience with more than one domain relevant software framework or tools, such as middleware, benchmarking suites, data sets and related pipelines, or algorithmic libraries

  • Has worked with production level ML and DL perception algorithms for autonomous vehicles

Nice to have:

  • MSc or PhD in perception or closely related field

  • Experience with degraded sensors, adverse weather, or real-world edge cases

  • Deep hands-on expertise in relevant algorithms or methods, such as non-linear optimization, computational geometry, numerical analysis, distributed systems

  • Familiarity with fallback systems, MRM concepts, or safety cases (ISO/SOTIF)

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Applied Intuition pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum intended target base salary for new hire salaries for the position. The actual base salary offered to a successful candidate will additionally be influenced by a variety of factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.

Please reference the job posting’s subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the location listed is: $151,000 - $255,000 USD annually.