What are the responsibilities and job description for the Lead AI/ML Engineer - Defense Robotics position at Approach Venture?
Lead AI / ML Engineer - Architect Autonomous Defense Systems at the Tactical Edge!
Austin, TX | On-site
Opportunity Summary
Join a funded defense technology startup developing autonomous robotic systems designed to counter rapidly evolving small unmanned aerial threats. Our initial platform focuses on defensive counter UAS applications operating in high consequence environments where latency, resilience, and autonomy are non negotiable. We are seeking a Lead AI / ML Engineer to own the machine intelligence architecture behind these systems. This is not an execution-only position. You will define model strategy, guide technical direction, and ensure our learning systems translate into reliable field performance under strict size, weight, and power constraints. If you are driven to build real-world autonomy that performs outside of lab conditions, this is a rare opportunity to lead from the front.
About Us
We are a venture-backed robotics company building autonomous machines for national security missions. Our systems integrate perception, control, and embedded intelligence to operate at the tactical edge. The team combines deep experience in robotics, machine learning, and hardware development, and we are scaling quickly to meet urgent operational demand. Our work sits at the intersection of autonomy, defense applications, and next-generation edge AI.
Job Duties
Salary: $200,000 - $300,000
Austin, TX | On-site
Opportunity Summary
Join a funded defense technology startup developing autonomous robotic systems designed to counter rapidly evolving small unmanned aerial threats. Our initial platform focuses on defensive counter UAS applications operating in high consequence environments where latency, resilience, and autonomy are non negotiable. We are seeking a Lead AI / ML Engineer to own the machine intelligence architecture behind these systems. This is not an execution-only position. You will define model strategy, guide technical direction, and ensure our learning systems translate into reliable field performance under strict size, weight, and power constraints. If you are driven to build real-world autonomy that performs outside of lab conditions, this is a rare opportunity to lead from the front.
About Us
We are a venture-backed robotics company building autonomous machines for national security missions. Our systems integrate perception, control, and embedded intelligence to operate at the tactical edge. The team combines deep experience in robotics, machine learning, and hardware development, and we are scaling quickly to meet urgent operational demand. Our work sits at the intersection of autonomy, defense applications, and next-generation edge AI.
Job Duties
- Define and lead the machine learning architecture for real-time threat detection, tracking, and classification
- Design and train advanced neural networks capable of distinguishing hostile aerial systems from environmental noise
- Architect sensor fusion pipelines integrating radar, RF, optical, and acoustic data streams
- Guide development of transformer-based and imitation learning control frameworks
- Oversee model optimization for deployment on constrained edge hardware platforms
- Establish MLOps processes for field deployment, monitoring, iteration, and performance validation
- Develop anomaly detection strategies to identify novel or previously unseen aerial threats
- Partner with robotics and perception teams to ensure seamless integration between model outputs and real-time guidance systems
- Mentor engineers and set technical standards across the AI stack
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related discipline
- 5 years of experience developing and deploying machine learning systems in production environments
- Expert-level proficiency in Python
- Extensive experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Strong command of neural network design, classification systems, and multi-sensor data fusion
- Proven experience optimizing models for resource-constrained or edge-based hardware
- Deep understanding of linear algebra, calculus, probability, and statistics as applied to machine learning systems
- Experience leading projects or technical teams within AI or robotics domains
- U.S. Person status required due to export-controlled work
- Willingness to complete a background check
- Experience working in a defense or dual-use robotics environment
- Security clearance or ability to obtain one
- Background in anomaly detection, adversarial robustness, or resilient AI systems
- Experience deploying AI models on embedded platforms such as NVIDIA Jetson or similar
- Personal passion for robotics, hardware experimentation, or autonomous systems
- Lead technical direction for a mission-critical autonomy platform
- Direct influence on product architecture and roadmap
- Early-stage equity participation
- Newly built laboratory environment with advanced prototyping equipment
- Opportunity for rapid growth as the organization scales
- Work on systems that address urgent national security needs
Salary: $200,000 - $300,000
Salary : $200,000 - $300,000