Director, Perception - Autonomous Vehicles

NVIDIA • Santa Clara, CA

7d

About The Position

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 our 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. If you are a relentless problem-solver who thrives on building world-class teams and shipping production AI, we want to hear from you.

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, hands-on theoretical and practical expertise with modern network architectures (Transformers, CNNs, Foundation Models) and complex multi-sensor fusion paradigms.
• A proven track record of successfully 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. You must be able to distill complex technical uncertainty into clear, actionable strategies for both your team and executive leadership.
• A highly motivated, entrepreneurial mindset. You possess a relentless drive to solve the hardest problems in the AV space and the energy to lead a team through the challenges of shipping bleeding-edge technology.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated success in shipping autonomous vehicle software to mass-production.
• A recognized presence in the global AI/CV community, evidenced by top-tier publications (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.

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 all algorithms and production code adhere to strict automotive quality and safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262).

Benefits

• Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions.
• You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree