Senior Reality Capture Engineer, Robotics Hardware

FieldAI’s Irvine team is where embodied AI meets real robots, real sensors, and real field deployments. Based in the heart of Southern California’s robotics ecosystem, we build risk-aware, reliable, field-ready AI systems that solve the hardest problems in robotics and unlock the full potential of embodied intelligence. If you want your work to ship, get tested on hardware, and improve through real deployments, Irvine is the place. We go beyond typical data-driven approaches or pure transformer-only architectures, combining rigorous engineering with learning systems proven in globally deployed solutions that deliver results today and get better every time our robots run in the field. Hardware Team: The Hardware Team at FieldAI develops perception and compute payloads that power autonomous robotics systems in complex real world environments. Our work spans the full hardware stack designing and integrating sensing systems (LiDAR, camera, TOF, IMU, GPS), embedded compute (CPUs, GPUs, microcontrollers, Linux, ROS), electrical systems (power distribution, communication), and mechanical components (structures, thermal regulation, ingress protection). The team focuses on both development (research, design, prototyping, testing) and operations (production, testing, QA, debugging). We’re a small, fast-moving team, and we care deeply about improving: 1) core capabilities, 2) system reliability, 3) system scalability. As a growing team we are also building operational systems and procedures from the ground up.   Reality Capture & Sensor Payload Engineer In this role on the Hardware Team at FieldAI, you will deliver the sensor modules that turn our robots into data-collection platforms for customers. This spans sensor selection, calibration, electro-mechanical integration, validation, and the data pipelines that carry sensor output from capture through processing. Examples of sensor modules include high-resolution LiDAR scanners, PTZ and thermal cameras, depth cameras, GNSS/RTK, and gas detection sensors. Candidates should be familiar with concepts and workflows such as laser scanning, photogrammetry, digital twins, BIM, and deviation and change analysis. You will collaborate with the product team to select the right sensor for customers from hard industries such as construction and manufacturing. You will work closely with mechanical and electrical engineers to integrate each sensor into swappable modules on our robotic platform. You will own sensor performance such as calibration and time sync. As well as validate results through vibration and shock testing, point cloud evaluation, and other data quality checks. You may also lead the development of new custom reality capture sensors such as multicamera systems. What You Will Get To Do

1. Sensor Selection & Cross-Team Coordination

• Sensor Selection & Evaluation: Evaluate and select sensors for reality capture and mapping, such as LiDAR, depth cameras, GNSS/RTK, and PTZ/thermal cameras, based on accuracy, range, and point density.

• Insights & Customer Alignment: Partner with Product and engage directly with customers across construction, manufacturing, and other industries, to reconcile ideal data requirements with physical constraints.

• Custom Systems: Propose custom sensor solutions when needed, assessing whether COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) choices are truly optimal or whether custom LiDAR or multi-camera systems perform better.
  
  

2. Module Hardware Design

• Calibration & Time Sync: Own multi-sensor calibration, including intrinsics, extrinsics, boresight alignment, and timing (PTP, PPS) across custom LiDAR and multi-camera systems.

• Mechanical & Electrical Integration: Work with the mechanical and electrical teams to design the integration unit that mounts sensors onto the robot in a plug-and-play way, within SWaP-C constraints.

• Ruggedization: Own mounting and enclosure design, including IP ratings and ruggedization, so modules hold up in harsh field conditions.
  
  

3. Data Processing & Validation

• Data Pipelines: Build and maintain data pipelines that turn sensor captures into registered, georeferenced point clouds and photogrammetric reconstructions for the Insights team.

• Testing & Validation: Test sensor performance, calibration accuracy, and point cloud repeatability under real-world conditions, vibration, shock, and lighting, before deployment.

• Production Quality: Support incoming quality checks and production consistency for ruggedized sensor modules as they scale across multiple robots.
  
  

4. Ownership & Leadership

• Systems-Level Optimization: Act as the systems-level owner who prevents siloed, locally-optimized solutions, finding the truly optimal fix across domains.

• Cross-Disciplinary Coordination: Serve as the connective point between Autonomy, Insights, Mechanical, and Electrical, keeping sensor payload decisions aligned across the organization.

• Team Leadership & Roadmap: Oversee and mentor junior mechanical and electrical engineers, and contribute to sensor and hardware roadmap and vendor strategy.

What You Have

• Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.

• Experience Level: We're targeting 9+ years of experience for a senior to staff-level role, though we may consider more junior candidates with the right profile.

• Cross-Domain Engineering: Strong foundation across mechanical design, electrical design, and sensor hardware, with the breadth to work across all three.

• Data & Signal Processing Fluency: Working knowledge of point cloud and signal processing sufficient to evaluate software-based solutions to hardware problems.

• Systems-Level Optimization: Demonstrated ability to work across engineering domains and drive system-level, not just component-level, optimization.

• Sensor Knowledge: Deep familiarity with the sensor and geospatial-intelligence landscape, including LiDAR, cameras, thermal imaging, and gas detection.

• Mechatronics & Integration: Experience with electromechanical integration, mounting, enclosures, IP ratings, and connectors for ruggedized sensor payloads.

• Cross Functional Communication: Strong communicator able to arbitrate between teams that each see only their own piece of the solution space.

• Leadership: Experience managing or mentoring junior engineers on detailed design execution.
  

What Will Set You Apart

• Sensor Depth: Direct experience with sensors such as LiDAR, gas detection, thermal imaging, or PTZ camera systems.

• Field Robotics: Experience working with field robots subject to vibration, shock, or harsh environmental conditions such as construction or industrial sites.

• Mapping & Reality Capture: Familiarity with point cloud registration, photogrammetry and reconstruction, digital twin and BIM workflows, and deviation or change detection for environment mapping.

• Reality Capture Ecosystem: Familiarity with laser scanning hardware (FARO, Leica, Trimble) and reality-capture software platforms, applied to building or infrastructure inspection, construction verification, and asset management.

• Industry Exposure: Experience in construction, manufacturing, industrial, mining, or oil and gas environments, including hazardous-area (ATEX, IECEx, Class I Div 1/2) considerations.

• Research to Production: Experience taking sensor or perception work from research and algorithm development through to production deployment.
  

Our salary range is generous and we consider each individual’s background and experience when determining final compensation. Base pay may vary based on role scope, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and the Irvine, California market.   Why Join FieldAI in Irvine? In Irvine, you will work where the robots are. Our local team builds and tests systems on real hardware with real sensors, then ships them to operate in unstructured, previously unknown environments around the world. We are solving one of robotics’ hardest challenges: reliable deployment outside the lab. Our Field Foundational Models™ raise the bar for perception, planning, localization, and manipulation, with an emphasis on explainability and safety for real-world use. You will collaborate with a world-class team that thrives on creativity, resilience, and bold thinking. We bring deep experience from organizations such as DeepMind, NASA JPL, Boston Dynamics, NVIDIA, Amazon, Tesla Autopilot, Cruise, Zoox, Toyota Research Institute, and SpaceX, along with a track record of field deployments and strong performance in DARPA challenge segments.   Be Part of the Next Robotics Revolution We are looking for builders who want their work to leave the whiteboard and show up on robots. If you enjoy tackling tough, uncharted questions and working across disciplines, you will find your people here. Our teams span AI, software, robotics engineering, product, field deployment, and technical communication, all focused on shipping systems that perform in the real world.   Our headquarters is in Irvine, and we partner closely with teams there as well as colleagues across the US and around the world. Join us in Southern California and help define what dependable, field-ready autonomy looks like.   We value diverse perspectives and are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace. We evaluate candidates and employees based on merit, qualifications, and performance, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or any other legally protected status.