Autonomy Software Engineer: State Estimation & Forecasting

About the Company

Asriel is working with an early-stage aerospace technology company developing autonomous systems for complex, safety-critical operations in space.

Its core software platform combines artificial intelligence, probabilistic reasoning and real-time decision-making to enable spacecraft to detect, characterise and respond to dynamic objects and potential threats. The platform is designed to integrate with third-party spacecraft hardware, creating a unified autonomous system for protecting high-value assets in orbit.

About the Role

The company is hiring a Software Engineer to lead the development of the state estimation and prediction models at the heart of its autonomy platform.

You will research and build algorithms that combine probabilistic estimation with machine learning to track targets, predict trajectories, interpret behaviour and support autonomous decision-making.

The company has a high-ownership engineering culture, with individuals expected to take technically demanding work from initial research through to deployment.

What You’ll Do

• Design and implement the core state estimation and prediction architecture for autonomous spacecraft operations
• Research and develop estimation and prediction algorithms, from literature review and experimentation through training, tuning, optimisation and deployment
• Build classical and neural estimators to track the state and trajectory of multiple dynamic targets in real time
• Develop neural models to forecast future trajectories and behavioural patterns
• Implement intent-inference models that identify likely actions and dynamically rank threat levels
• Integrate estimation and prediction models into mission simulation environments and autonomous decision systems
• Collaborate with perception, onboard autonomy and other engineering teams to ensure prediction accuracy, robustness and scalability across missions

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Applied Mathematics or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
• At least 2 years of distinguished industry experience in state estimation, aerospace, robotics or a related field
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python
• Demonstrated experience with probabilistic state estimation, including Kalman filters, particle filters or Bayesian inference
• Experience with deep-learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow for sequence modelling, including seq2seq architectures, RNNs, LSTMs or Transformers
• Familiarity with trajectory modelling, multi-body dynamics or orbital mechanics

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience implementing state estimation pipelines in real-time or safety-critical systems
• Experience deploying sequence-to-sequence models for forecasting in dynamic environments
• Familiarity with sensor fusion techniques involving radar, optical and inertial data
• Proficiency with GPU acceleration technologies such as CUDA or TensorRT for neural-network training and inference
• Experience with Linux, Git and CI/CD pipelines
• Familiarity with containerisation tools such as Docker and Kubernetes
• Experience with real-time systems, multithreading and performance optimisation
• Strong understanding of networking and communication protocols for distributed autonomous systems

Export-Control Requirements

This position involves technology governed by United States export-control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident, a protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to receive the necessary authorisation from the U.S. Department of State. Further information is available here.