Director, Perception - Autonomous Vehicles

Details

Achieving what has never been accomplished requires foresight, creativity, and the finest talent worldwide. We are looking for a driven Director of Perception to help lead our AI model evolution. In this critical leadership role, you will drive the development of state-of-the-art deep learning models that enable vehicles to see, understand, and navigate complex environments. You will lead teams pushing the boundaries of modern network architectures to deliver a robust, real-time 3D world model.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire: manage, mentor, and scale a high-performing organization of engineering managers, applied researchers, and software engineers dedicated to autonomous vehicle perception.
• Drive the architecture: guide the strategic direction, design, and execution of modern network architectures (e.g., Transformers, BEV, Occupancy Networks, Vision-Language-Action models) for multi-sensor fusion (camera, LiDAR, radar) and real-time 3D world reconstruction.
• End-to-end ownership: oversee the entire machine learning lifecycle — from active learning, data mining, and synthetic data generation to model training, model performance acceleration, and deployment on NVIDIA DRIVE platforms (Orin/Thor).
• Cross-functional teamwork: partner closely with leaders across Planning and Control, Mapping, Hardware, and Safety teams to ensure seamless integration of the perception stack and alignment on AV system-level metrics.
• Cultivate excellence: foster a culture of radical ownership, high-velocity execution, and continuous innovation; ensure algorithms and production code adhere to automotive quality and safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262).

Requirements

• Ph.D. or master’s degree in computer science, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, visual computing, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 10+ overall years of industry experience in deep learning, computer vision, or autonomous robotics, with at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role managing large teams or multiple layers of management.
• Deep theoretical and practical expertise with modern network architectures (Transformers, CNNs, Foundation Models) and complex multi-sensor fusion paradigms.
• Proven track record of deploying production-grade, safety-critical machine learning models to edge/embedded computing platforms.
• Strong foundational knowledge in Python, C++, and deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow).
• Exceptional communication and leadership skills; ability to distill technical uncertainty into clear, actionable strategies for teams and executives.
• Highly motivated, entrepreneurial mindset with a relentless drive to solve hard problems in the AV space.

Ways to stand out from the crowd

• Demonstrated success in shipping autonomous vehicle software to mass production.
• Recognized presence in the global AI/CV community (top-tier publications such as CVPR, ICCV, NeurIPS) or significant open-source contributions.
• Hands-on experience with next-generation paradigms, such as end-to-end autonomous driving architectures, Large Vision Models (LVMs), or sim-to-real transfer techniques.
• Deep understanding of hardware-software co-design, specifically optimizing modern networks for NVIDIA GPU architectures.

Compensation & Company

• Base salary range: 320,000 USD - 488,750 USD (determined based on location, experience, and pay of similar positions).
• You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until March 16, 2026. This posting is for an existing vacancy. NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and is an equal opportunity employer. The company does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.