Software Engineer: Perception

7/1/26, 1:23 PM Job Application for Software Engineer: Perception at Lodestar

Software Engineer: Perception

Los Angeles, US

About Lodestar

Lodestar's mission is to develop the first "Protect and Defend" capability for high-value space assets in orbit. Our flagship product MITHRIL is the critical hardware & software necessary to augment any off- the-shelf spacecraft with the ability to autonomously detect, characterise, and reversibly neutralise orbital threats. By building on the proven space heritage of our best-in-class satellite-bus partners and fully integrating MITHRIL as a single platform, we deliver a fully autonomous end-to-end protection spacecraft service.

About the Job

As a Software Engineer - Perception at Lodestar, you’ll be joining the perception and machine vision teams to rapidly grow our vision and perception models at MITHRIL’s center. You’ll focus on researching and building algorithms to detect, classify and understand unknown space targets in real- time. By combining computer vision, image processing and machine learning, you’ll develop custom models - providing the foundation for autonomous decision-making in complex and uncertain space environments.

We proudly have an "extreme ownership" oriented engineering culture.

What You’ll Do

Scoping architecture for the perception system core to Lodestar’s autonomy software suite

Research and adapt novel perception algorithms - everything from lit. review, through training and evaluation, to optimisation and deployment

Design, develop ML algorithms from the ground up, in addition to build on and optimizing our existing models for edge computing

Further develop our robust methods for predicting relative pose of dynamic space targets in harsh and unpredictable visual environments

Integrate perception models into mission simulation environments and real-time autonomy pipelines

Contribute to the design of realistic sensor models and digital twins to improve perception fidelity in mission scenarios

Own perception tooling, model training infrastructure, and evaluation frameworks for ongoing development and deployment https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/lodestarspace/jobs/4661387101 1/37/1/26, 1:23 PM Job Application for Software Engineer: Perception at Lodestar Collaborate across autonomy, estimation, and mission software teams to ensure perception fidelity, performance, and scalability

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in, AI/ML, Computer Science, Robotics, a related field, or equivalent experience

2+ years of distinguished industry experience in Machine Learning, robotics, computer vision, or a related field

Excellent software engineering skills in C++ and Python

Strong DNN/ML background and experience in CV and image processing libraries (OpenCV,

CUDA-accelerated vision, PCL)

Broad understanding of modern perception systems and their architecture

Experience developing and deploying ML models to real-time systems

Preferred Skills & Experience

Experience processing sensor measurements from a variety of sensors including RADAR, electro-optical sensors, RF sensors, or LIDAR

Familiarity with image processing techniques (e.g., feature extraction, segmentation, filtering, stereo matching) to support 3D reconstruction and target classification

Track record optimizing neural networks and geometric algorithms using CUDA kernels,

TensorRT, or other GPU acceleration frameworks

Experience with distributed training and cloud-based scaling of ML models (AWS, GCP, or Azure)

Experience with Linux, Git, and CI/CD pipelines

Comfortable with containerization tools such as Docker and Kubernetes

Strong understanding of networking and communication protocols for distributed autonomy systems

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Compensation & Benefits

Pay Range: https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/lodestarspace/jobs/4661387101 2/37/1/26, 1:23 PM Job Application for Software Engineer: Perception at Lodestar (E1) Junior Software Engineer: $115,000 - $140,000 / year (E2) Software Engineer: $140,000 - $180,000 / year (E3) Senior Software Engineer: Competitive

Meaningful equity incentives as part of our employee option pool

Flexible PTO with generous paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave

Comprehensive medical, dental & vision coverage

401(k) retirement plan with company match

Los Angeles https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/lodestarspace/jobs/4661387101 3/3