State Estimation Engineer

The future of defense will be decided by those who field intelligent machines at scale. At Scout, we’re developing Fury, the first robotic foundation model for defense, to give U.S. forces overwhelming, adaptable, and autonomous power across every domain. Fury enables human operators to command fleets of robots through natural language, and empowers those machines to sense, decide, and act together as one. It’s not just a leap in autonomy, it’s a force multiplier built for real-world conflict. This mission will ask everything of us: urgency, precision, and relentless work.

The Role

We’re hiring a State Estimation Engineer to build and scale the target tracking and classification backbone of Fury. In this role, you will build large scale sensor fusion frameworks for VLA-based navigation, imitation learning, and reinforcement learning, helping create the next generation of intelligent robotic agents. You'll design and deploy cutting-edge systems that can automatically detect, classify, and prioritize targets across multiple sensing modalities, while also leading the development of Fury’s terminal guidance logic. We are looking for an expert level practitioner who can help us combine the best of traditional state estimation with the latest in VLA-based measurement to enable self-supervision and real-time fusion from large numbers of VLA agents.

We’re a startup. You’ll be moving fast, context-switching daily, and helping define the culture and process as we go. This is a rare opportunity to come in early and architect the future of defense.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of advanced state estimations algorithms capable of autonomously identifying, classifying, and prioritizing potential targets from complex sensor data streams.

• Architect and implement robust linkages between state estimation systems and the platform’s terminal guidance logic, enabling precision target acquisition and strike capabilities in dynamic scenarios.

• Fuse and process data from multiple sensor modalities in real-time to generate actionable targeting intelligence, with high resistance to environmental noise, clutter, and countermeasures.

• Develop logic for autonomous decision-making within the state estimation system, prioritizing and filtering targets based on mission parameters, rules of engagement, and evolving threat landscapes.

• Apply deep learning, computer vision, and neural network architectures to improve state estimation performance in ambiguous or degraded visual conditions. Incorporate continuous learning frameworks to enhance system capabilities over time.

• Run field tests and simulation campaigns to validate state estimation performance under operational conditions. Support ruggedized deployment of state estimation modules at the edge, ensuring low latency and high survivability in SWaP-constrained platforms.

• Incorporate safety layers and ethical targeting checks into state estimation decision-making chains, ensuring compliance with international law and engagement policies. Implement explainability and auditability features for system transparency.

• Work cross-functionally with autonomy engineers, sensor specialists, and mission planning teams to tightly couple state estimation capabilities with vehicle and payload systems, enhancing end-to-end kill chain efficiency.

Qualifications

• Several years of experience in developing and implementing state estimation systems, with a focus on target tracking and terminal guidance applications

• Strong background in computer vision and target detection/classification

• Experience working with EO/IR, SAR, or other tactical sensor modalities

• Proficiency in languages such as C++, Python, and MATLAB for algorithm development and system integration

• Experience with machine learning frameworks and AI techniques to enhance target recognition capabilities.

• Demonstrated ability to move from prototype to field-tested capability in fast-paced environments

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.

• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities

• Bonus: Familiarity with DoD or mission-oriented deployments

• Bonus: Experience with on-platform inference on edge compute

• Bonus: Background in VLA or embodied AI systems

Why Join Scout

• Work on the world’s most important frontier, ensuring U.S. and allied dominance in the age of intelligent machines

• Be a core part of a team building the first defense-specific robotic foundation model

• Collaborate with some of the top engineers in autonomy, AI, and national security

• See your work deployed on real systems

• Help define the future of intelligent defense systems

• Backed by Draper Associates, Booz Allen Ventures, and other top national security investors

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and meaningful equity

• Premium medical, dental, and vision plans with $0 paycheck contribution

• Competitive PTO and company holiday calendar

• Catered lunch daily and fully stocked kitchen

• EV charging

• Relocation assistance (depending on role eligibility)