Joby Advanced Development designs, develops, and flight-tests novel aircraft using a software-first autonomy approach. We build and deploy autonomy, perception, planning, and radar systems across conventional, electric, and hydrogen-electric aircraft in both CTOL and VTOL configurations.
OverviewJoby Advanced Development is seeking an Autonomy Senior Machine Learning Engineer, to design and build the state-of-the-art perception and reasoning algorithms for our Superpilot™ autonomy stack. This position offers a unique opportunity to enable our aircraft to safely and autonomously navigate their complex environment. In this role, you will design and develop solutions for aircraft autonomy involving perception, navigation, and other applications. You will work closely with other software engineers and AI experts in computer vision, robotics, navigation, and controls. The role requires deep expertise with machine learning algorithms, hands-on software engineering, and autonomous systems industry experience.
You will train perception models and develop robust perception software for autonomous flight. Further, you will also apply a data-centric approach to creating AI solutions for simulation, mapping, and advanced sensing with cameras, lidars, and radar. Your work will help teams deploy state-of-the-art AI algorithms and systems for autonomous flight on multiple types of aircraft.
We are a small, high-impact team that values curiosity, technical initiative, and the ability to operate independently. You will collaborate deeply with sensing, controls, and flight software engineers to build a foundation that accelerates our path to safe, autonomous flight. The right candidate is a strong autonomy machine learning engineer who cares deeply about system design, software engineering, and enabling fast, safe iteration across multiple aircraft programs.
Responsibilities- Autonomy ML Development
- Design, train, and maintain state-of-the-art ML models for perception on autonomous aircraft
- Combine deep learning and 3D computer vision techniques for sensor fusion, navigation, and detect-and-avoid
- Build high-performance model training pipelines and extensive evaluation systems to ensure reliability and quality
- Autonomy Technical Solutions
- Optimize and tune real-time AI perception algorithms for autonomous aircraft
- Contribute to software development for data management, annotation, and curation
- Contribute to autonomy modeling, simulation, and analysis software tooling
- Collaborate closely with the rest of the Superpilot™ team to ideate, plan and execute on high-quality, well-integrated solutions and features
- Monitor system health and performance, proactively addressing issues and providing user support
Degree in computer science, aerospace engineering, or related field
8+ years of experience in machine learning
Experience in developing software and systems for autonomous vehicles
Strong proficiency in python
Extensive practical knowledge of state-of-art models for real-time perception
Deep understanding of 3D computer vision and machine learning for video
Ability to invent and quickly prototype technical solutions in autonomy
Proven ability to document complex technical designs, architectural trade-offs, and implementation roadmaps
Champion of software best practices, including rigorous code reviews and mentorship
Excellent communication skills for collaborating with cross-functional teams
Desired
- Expert-level software engineering: deep expertise in architecting and writing clean, scalable, and maintainable code
- Professional software development experience with multi-disciplinary teams in aerospace autonomy
- Experience in autonomous vehicle software development
- Experience deploying ML models in a production environment using modern MLOps principles and tools (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow)
- Experience in processing aircraft sensors data such as GPS, inertial, ADS-B, air data, radio data
- Experience in ROS2 or related middleware and DDS systems
- Competence in C++
Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $180,500 - $250,000/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
Joby also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan with a company match, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.
Additional InformationJoby Aviation is an equal opportunity employer.
Skills Required
- Degree in computer science, aerospace engineering, or a related field
- 8+ years of experience in machine learning
- Experience developing software and systems for autonomous vehicles
- Strong proficiency in Python
- Extensive practical knowledge of state-of-the-art models for real-time perception
- Deep understanding of 3D computer vision and machine learning for video
- Ability to invent and quickly prototype technical solutions in autonomy
- Ability to document complex technical designs, architectural trade-offs, and implementation roadmaps
- Experience with software best practices, rigorous code reviews, and mentorship
- Excellent communication skills for cross-functional collaboration
- Expert-level software engineering, including architecting and writing clean, scalable, maintainable code
- Professional software development experience with multidisciplinary teams in aerospace autonomy
- Experience in autonomous vehicle software development
- Experience deploying machine learning models in production using MLOps principles and tools such as MLflow or Kubeflow
- Experience processing aircraft sensor data, including GPS, inertial, ADS-B, air data, and radio data
- Experience with ROS2 or related middleware and DDS systems
- Competence in C++
Joby Aviation Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Joby Aviation and has not been reviewed or approved by Joby Aviation.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing perks are positioned as a meaningful part of the total package, including free daily meals and access to an on-site gym. These amenities are portrayed as reducing day-to-day costs and friction, making the overall rewards feel richer for some roles and sites.
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Retirement Support — Retirement support is described as comprehensive, including a 401(k) plan with a company match. Ownership-oriented savings options like an ESPP are also included alongside retirement benefits.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity participation is a prominent component of total rewards through RSUs and an ESPP, making upside potential a core part of compensation design. This structure is framed as especially attractive when equity is valued as part of overall pay competitiveness.
Joby Aviation Insights
What We Do
Joby is a California-based company building quiet, all-electric aircraft to connect people like never before. With up to 150 miles of range and the ability to take off and land vertically, the Joby aircraft will change the way we move while reducing the acoustic and climate footprint of flight.
