🚀 Founding Engineer — Chief of AI & Computer Vision (Stealth AI Aviation Startup)
📍 South of England (On-site)
💼 Full-time | Founding Team | Significant Equity
We are a well-funded stealth-stage AI robotics startup building advanced autonomous aerial systems.
We are hiring a Founding Engineer (Chief of AI & Computer Vision) to lead the perception, sensor fusion, and AI intelligence layer of our autonomy stack — and to help embed cutting-edge AI systems across the company to dramatically accelerate engineering progress.
This is a core founding role, working directly with the founder and shaping both the technical architecture and engineering culture from day one.
🧠 What you’ll be doing
👁️ Perception, Detect & Avoid, Sensor Fusion
You will own the computer vision and perception stack for autonomous aerial systems, including:
- Real-time detect-and-avoid perception systems
- Multi-sensor fusion (camera, IMU, and other onboard sensors)
- Robust perception pipelines for autonomous flight
- Foundational components of an AI-driven autonomy stack
⚡ AI Systems as a Force Multiplier
You will also design and deploy internal AI systems that supercharge the team:
- Build generative and agentic AI tools for engineering workflows
- Automate testing, analysis, and development processes
- Integrate frontier AI models into real operational systems
- Create leverage so a small team operates at extreme output efficiency
🛩️ System Context
Our aircraft is a complex autonomous robotic system, integrating:
- Multiple sensors and embedded compute platforms
- Real-time control and perception loops
- Edge AI processing systems
- Safety-critical autonomy software
AI is not an add-on — it is a core architectural layer across the entire system.
🏗️ Where you’ll fit in
We are a small, high-velocity team that has already built early prototypes and secured significant non-dilutive funding.
We are now expanding the founding engineering team to transition from prototype systems to scaled deployment.
You will:
- Work onsite with the founder and core engineers
- Own AI and perception architecture end-to-end
- Influence product direction and technical roadmap
- Help define how modern AI is applied in real-world autonomy systems
🔍 What we’re looking for
Essential strengths
- Deep experience in computer vision, machine learning, or AI systems
- Strong understanding of sensor fusion and multi-modal perception
- Experience integrating vision systems into real-world robotics or hardware
- Ability to build and evaluate AI systems in production environments
- Strong problem-solving ability in fast-moving technical teams
- Genuine interest in frontier AI models and real-world deployment
- High ownership mindset and comfort with ambiguity
Desirable
- Experience with UAV systems, drones, or robotics autonomy stacks
- Familiarity with flight controllers or open-source autonomy frameworks
- Experience deploying ML/AI systems on edge hardware
- Robotics, embedded, or real-time systems exposure
💡 What you’ll get
- Significant equity as a founding team member
- Direct impact as one of the first core hires
- Competitive salary (initial stipend + post-funding uplift)
- High autonomy and full technical ownership
- Flexible time off policy
- Standard UK pension scheme
⚡ Why this role is different
This is not a standard AI engineering role.
You will be:
- Building perception systems that directly influence autonomous flight
- Designing AI systems that amplify the entire organisation
- Working at the intersection of AI, robotics, and autonomy
- Helping build a deep-tech company from the ground up
📩 Application
Submit your CV or profile to begin the process the client can pay upwards of £100,000 to £140,000+ per year and also offer significant equity.