Perception & State Estimation Engineer - DoorDash Air
DoorDash USA · San Francisco
About this role
**Perception & State Estimation Engineer — DoorDash Air** **About the Team** DoorDash Labs is an independent team within DoorDash. We explore robotics and automation to transform last mile logistics in the long term. If you’re passionate about applying robotics solutions to a service used by millions of people, we’d love to talk. **About the Role** We’re hiring a **State Estimation & Perception Engineer** in our **Autonomy Software** team. In this role, you’ll own and develop the **perception and state estimation** for our **package pickup and delivery system**. You’ll influence early system design decisions, including **sensor selection**, **sensing architecture**, and **observability analysis**. **What You’ll Do** - Play an integral role on a small, focused team - Own tuning and implementation of the state estimation stack on the drone (e.g., **PX4 EKF modifications**, **fault tolerance**, **multi-sensor fusion** with **VIO** and **laser odometry**) - Own state estimation and perception of the delivery mechanism (dynamics modeling, observation model design, sensor selection) - Partner with controls and planning to close the loop on automated pickup and delivery - Work with the hardware team to define sensing principles and sensor placement - Design and execute flight test campaigns to validate estimator performance - Identify and resolve estimation failure modes (degenerate geometries, sensor dropout, initialization) **What We’re Looking For** - Deep experience with state estimation and filtering (**EKF, UKF, MSCKF, particle filters**) - Experience with optimization-based methods (**factor graphs, GTSAM, Ceres, SymForce**) - Experience with **visual-inertial odometry (VIO)** and/or **laser odometry (LIO)** - Proficiency in modern computer vision (feature extraction, tracking, depth estimation) - Strong **C++ and/or Rust** skills, with **Python** for prototyping and analysis - Experience deploying estimation on real hardware with real sensor noise - Ability to derive an EKF from scratch (process/measurement models, observability analysis, consistency checks) - Strong linear algebra knowledge (decompositions, sparsity exploitation, numerical conditioning) - Experience closing a perception-to-control loop on real hardware under degraded conditions - Comfortable operating at the intersection of theory and embedded reality - Passion for delivering outstanding customer experiences - Proactive development mindset (often building new tools) - **MS/PhD** in CS, EE, ME, Robotics, or a related technical field **Nice to Have** - Experience with **PX4 / ArduPilot EKF internals** - Experience with **multi-body state estimation** (tethered/suspended payloads) - Familiarity with **SLAM in GPS-denied environments** - Publications or open-source contributions in state estimation or VIO - Debugged estimator failures in the field (not just simulation) **Compensation & Benefits (Summary)** - National base pay range (US, including IL and CO): **$198,600 — $292,000 USD** - Equity opportunities - Comprehensive benefits package (401(k) match, paid parental leave, wellness benefits, commuter benefits match, PTO/sick leave, medical/dental/vision, paid holidays, disability/basic life, and more) **About DoorDash** DoorDash’s mission empowers local economies. We’re building technology and logistics that help people get any and all goods. We support employee well-being with comprehensive benefits and perks. **Diversity & Inclusion** DoorDash is committed to
Listing freshness
CronJobs last confirmed this listing 1h ago. If its source stops confirming the opening for seven days, this page is removed from active inventory.