Software Careers

Senior Perception Engineer

Chefrobotics (View all Jobs)

San Francisco

Programming Languages Mentioned

Python, C++

About Our Team

Chef Robotics is on a mission to accelerate the advent of intelligent machines in the physical world. As the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT has shown, AI has the potential to drive immense change. However, we believe AI’s biggest impact will be in the physical world, given industries like manufacturing, food, and transportation represent 90% of global GDP. We're starting with food, with a goal to put an intelligent robot in every commercial kitchen in the world. We have signed multiple multi-year contracts with various large food companies and we are growing fast. We're backed by investors like Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg BETA and Promus Ventures. We have a great team, where you will be surrounded by talented engineers and tech leaders from companies like Cruise, Zoox, Google, Verb Surgical, Tesla, Nuro, Vicarious, Amazon Robotics, Strateos, Built Robotics, Facebook, Plenty, Yelp, and Microsoft.

About the Role

We are looking for a hands-on Perception Engineer who thrives in high-ownership environments and has shipped production-grade perception systems into the real world. You will lead efforts to improve how our robots perceive and interact with dynamic environments, across a wide range of food types, containers, and customer settings.

You’ve likely built models from scratch, deployed them at scale, and understand that perception is more than just models—it’s about robust systems. You have an intuition for why things break, a deep sense of data-centric debugging, and a vision for what modern perception infrastructure should look like.

This role is ideal for someone who wants to own the full stack: from selecting and integrating new sensor hardware to designing end-to-end data and ML pipelines to tracking performance in the field. You'll work alongside experts in robotics, autonomy, and operations to build robust, scalable systems that work today, not just in simulation.
In this role, you will:
  • Explore and integrate new sensors, particularly cameras, to improve robot perception.
  • Develop and optimize perception models (detection, segmentation, classification) using classical and deep learning techniques.
  • Calibrate cameras and refine sensor alignment for accurate real-world performance.
  • Work on ML infrastructure, including data collection, annotation, and model training pipelines.
  • Implement sensor fusion techniques to combine data from multiple sources.
  • Develop tracking algorithms to improve object identification and movement prediction.
  • Manipulate 3D geometry, including point cloud processing and camera transforms.
  • Scale and refine the perception infrastructure to support our company’s growth.
  • Collaborate with the robotics team to transition to modern platforms and technologies.
  • Develop new perception models to support expanding customer needs and meal types.
  • Improve and scale our perception infrastructure to meet growing demand.
  • Assist in integrating new cameras and sensors for enhanced robotic vision.
  • Contribute to system-wide improvements that increase efficiency and accuracy.
    • What You Bring:
  • BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, robotics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or related field.
  • Have shipped perception systems that are running in production environments (robotics, autonomy, manufacturing, or similar)
  • 5+ years of research and industry experience in machine/deep learning and computer vision.
  • Strong proficiency in Python (core language for development).
  • Experience with deep learning frameworks (preferably PyTorch or TensorFlow).
  • Expertise in ROS (Robot Operating System) or similar robotics frameworks.
  • Strong software development skills, with a focus on deploying production-ready code.
  • Are deeply familiar with classical and deep learning approaches in CV and 3D perception
  • Know how to build and evaluate datasets, with an eye for corner cases and failure modes
  • Understand the tradeoffs between modeling, data, hardware, and latency
  • Are comfortable navigating sensor hardware, calibration, and field validation
  • Thrive in fast-paced, startup environments and enjoy being onsite, hands-on, and close to the robot
  • Value safety, rigor, and user impact in the systems you build
    • Nice-to-have:
  • C++ proficiency for performance optimization.
  • Cloud development experience (Google Cloud or AWS).
  • Docker and containerization expertise.
  • Experience working in robotics start-ups or fast-paced environments.
  • Deep understanding of camera calibration and perception sensors.
    • Equal Opportunity Employer

    We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizen status, uniform service member and veteran status, marital status, age, pregnancy status, protected medical condition, genetic information, disability, or any other protected status.

    Multiple studies have found that a higher percentage of women and BIPOC candidates won't apply if they don't meet every listed qualification. Chef values candidates of all backgrounds. If you find yourself excited by our mission but you don't check every box in the description, we encourage you to apply anyway!