Engineering Manager, Perception AI

True Anomaly develops autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors to enable space superiority. The Engineering Manager, Perception AI will build and lead a perception AI team developing world models, generative AI, multi-target tracking, sensor fusion, camera calibration, and edge-deployed AI systems for autonomous spacecraft operations. The role oversees technical direction, roadmap execution, cross-functional integration, team growth, and people management.

Responsibilities:

• Provide technical direction on world model architectures for photorealistic synthetic video generation, perception AI systems combining classical computer vision with modern deep learning, and edge deployment strategies
• Review and approve technical designs for generative AI systems, multi-target tracking algorithms, sensor fusion pipelines, and model compression strategies
• Lead by example, setting the standard for technical work across design, implementation, and verification (approximately 50% of time)
• Define perception AI standards, validation approaches bridging synthetic and real-world data, and hardware-in-the-loop testing protocols
• Drive technical decisions on when to use physics-based simulation versus generative AI for synthetic data, when classical algorithms excel versus learned representations, and real-time performance trade-offs
• Maintain technical credibility in generative AI for synthetic data, computer vision, state estimation, and resource-constrained deployment
• Define and own the team roadmap in collaboration with perception AI leadership, balancing near-term delivery with long-term capability development across world models, multi-modal fusion, and continuous learning from operational and synthetic data
• Translate organizational strategy into actionable team objectives aligned to defense and commercial customer missions
• Prioritize work across competing demands: photorealistic synthetic video generation, multi-target tracking with decoy discrimination, signal processing and sensor fusion, camera calibration and control, edge-deployed object detection
• Manage dependencies and coordinate with flight software, hardware, autonomy, and simulation teams for successful cross-functional delivery
• Track and communicate progress, risks, and blockers to leadership with focus on integration milestones and operational acceptance
• Drive continuous improvement in processes, tools, and workflows to increase velocity from prototype to flight-ready systems
• Work with program managers to scope projects, estimate timelines, and commit to deliverables
• Build, grow, and lead a team of perception and AI engineers through recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and retention
• Provide direct people management including 1-on-1s, performance reviews, goal setting, and career development
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, rigorous validation, and rapid iteration from synthetic data through simulation to flight
• Develop individual contributors into technical leaders through mentorship and growth opportunities
• Manage team dynamics, resolve conflicts, and ensure healthy team communication
• Facilitate knowledge sharing, cross-training, and documentation to build team resilience
• Bridge generative AI, classical perception, and modern deep learning approaches, guiding the team on when each paradigm applies