Staff Applied Research Scientist, Perception

We're Cruise, a self-driving service designed for the cities we love.

We’re building the world’s most advanced self-driving vehicles to safely connect people to the places, things, and experiences they care about. We believe self-driving vehicles will help save lives, reshape cities, give back time in transit, and restore freedom of movement for many.

In our cars, you’re free to be yourself. It’s the same here at Cruise. We’re creating a culture that values the experiences and contributions of all of the unique individuals who collectively make up Cruise, so that every employee can do their best work.

Cruise is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, both in our workplace and in our products. If you are looking to play a part in making a positive impact in the world by advancing the revolutionary work of self-driving cars, come join us. Even if you might not meet every requirement, we strongly encourage you to apply. You might just be the right candidate for us.

What You'll Be Doing

As a Staff Applied Research Scientist - Perception, you drive the research projects that address the everyday challenges that happen on urban roads, ones that do not have standard solutions available. On a day-to-day basis, you will:

• Considered one of the technical leaders of the department who guides current and future technology choices
• Formulate problems
• Enable others engineers on the team to be more effective through design and code that is easy to extend and contribute into
• Have a deep understanding of the business and operational impact for different technology tradeoffs, and able to balance effectively based on company’s need
• Propose, prototype, evaluate, and iterate solutions
• Capable of influencing others and building consensus even over contentious technical debates
• Support productizing and deploying solutions to robot cars
• Initiate and lead new projects

What You Must Have

• Expertise in at least one of these specific areas: 2D/3D object detection, semantic / instance segmentation, fine-grained attribute understanding, human pose / gesture recognition, image sequence / semantics understanding, image embedding, visual/LIDAR-based tracking, multi-object tracking, and vision-based behavior prediction
• PhD / MS degree in computer vision, machine learning or a related field with multiple research publications in top conferences or journals; alternatively equivalent years of industry experience solving CV problems which do not have readily-available solutions
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or C++
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Track record of driving ML research projects from start to completion, including conception, problem definition, experimentation, iteration, and finally publication or productization

Bonus points!

• Experience in deploying perception algorithms and models into real-world environments
• PhD in machine learning, computer vision, or robotics vision
• Experience using deep-learning frameworks, e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc

The salary range for this position is $193,900 - $285,000. Compensation will vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, skills and experience. You may also be offered a bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. These ranges are subject to change.

Why Cruise?

• We’re Integrated
• We’re Funded
• GM, Honda, Microsoft, T. Rowe Price, and Walmart have invested billions in Cruise. Their backing for our technology demonstrates their confidence in our progress, team, and vision and makes us one of the leading autonomous vehicle organizations in the industry. Our deep resources greatly accelerate our operating speed.
• Medical / dental / vision, AD+D and Life
• Paid parental, jury duty, bereavement, family care, and medical leave
• Subsidized mental health benefits
• We’re Independent
• You won’t just own your work here, you’ll have the potential to own equity in Cruise, too. We are competing in a market that is projected to grow exponentially, which gives our company valuation room to grow. We offer a new kind of equity program called Recurring Liquidity Opportunity (RLO), which combines IPO-like liquidity with the stability of remaining private - learn more about RLO here
• Flexible vacation and company paid holidays
• 401(k) Cruise matching program
• Pre-tax Commuter Benefit Plan for non-remote employees
• Fertility Benefits
• Through our partnerships with General Motors and Honda, we are the only self-driving company with fully integrated manufacturing at scale.
• CruiseFlex, a working policy for US-Based Cruisers, lets you and your manager find the working style that’s best for you, whether it’s primarily in-person, primarily at home, or a combination of home and in-office time. - learn more about CruiseFlex here
• Healthy meals and snacks available for non-remote employees
• Our benefits are here to support the whole you:
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Competitive salary and benefits
• Flexible Spending Account
• We’re Vested
• We have our own governance, board of directors, equity, and investors. Our independence allows us to not just work on the edge of technology, but also define it.

• We’re Safety Conscious
• We integrate #staysafe, our top priority at Cruise, into our everyday work. Through our Safety Management System, every Cruiser is asked to do their part by reporting any potential issues or hazards they observe and making continuous improvements. You’ll be able to contribute to safety at Cruise, no matter your job function or title.

Cruise LLC is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a supportive and inclusive workplace where contributions are valued and celebrated, and our employees thrive by being themselves and are inspired to do the best work of their lives. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, caste, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, or disability. Applicants will not be discriminated against based on these or other protected categories or social identities. Cruise will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, in accordance with applicable laws.

Cruise is committed to the full inclusion of all applicants. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know or email [email protected].

We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. To help us track the effectiveness and inclusivity of our recruiting efforts, please consider answering the following demographic questions. Answering these questions is entirely voluntary. Your answers to these questions will not be shared with the hiring decision makers and will not impact the hiring decision in any way. Instead, Cruise will use this information not only to comply with any government reporting obligations but also to track our progress toward meeting our diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging objectives.

Candidates applying for roles that operate and remotely operate the AV: Licensed to drive a motor vehicle in the U.S. for the three years immediately preceding your application, currently holding an active in-state regular driver’s license or equivalent, and no more than one point on driving record. A successful completion of a background check, drug screen and DMV Motor Vehicle Record check is also required.

Note to Recruitment Agencies: Cruise does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Furthermore, Cruise does not pay placement fees for candidates submitted by any agency other than its approved partners.