Engineering Manager, Perception and Machine Learning

Havoc is a leader in all-domain collaborative autonomy. Its software-defined hardware approach powers military and commercial-grade autonomous systems across sea, air, and land to sense, decide, and act together in complex and contested environments. Havoc connects assets, enabling them to share information, adapt in real time, and continue operating even when communications are disrupted or denied. Havoc optimizes mission performance and minimizes human risk. Havoc was founded in 2024 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Learn more at Havoc: All-Domain Collaborative Autonomy.

As the Engineering Manager, Perception & Machine Learning, you will lead the team responsible for developing the perception and machine learning capabilities that enable HavocAI’s autonomous systems to understand and operate within the world around them.

This is a people leadership and technical management role for someone with a strong foundation in perception, machine learning, computer vision, sensor fusion, or robotics. You will be responsible for building and developing the team, setting priorities, driving execution, and ensuring perception capabilities move effectively from research and development into reliable, fielded products.

You’ll work closely with Autonomy, Embedded, Data, Simulation, Product, Programs, and Field Operations to translate mission and product requirements into clear engineering priorities. You should be comfortable balancing technical decisions, team development, execution, and changing priorities in a fast-moving environment.

Key Responsibilities

Lead, manage, and develop a team of perception, machine learning, sensor fusion, and software engineers.

Own team planning, prioritization, execution, and delivery against the Perception & ML roadmap.

Establish clear goals, responsibilities, and expectations for the team and hold engineers accountable for results.

Partner with senior technical contributors to guide architecture and technical decisions across computer vision, sensor fusion, tracking, detection, classification, segmentation, and related capabilities.

Oversee development and maturation of model training, evaluation, data curation, validation, and deployment workflows.

Ensure perception capabilities are designed around real-world performance, reliability, compute constraints, and field readiness.

Partner cross-functionally with Autonomy, Embedded, Data, Simulation, Hardware, Product, Programs, and Field Operations.

Translate customer, mission, and product requirements into clear engineering priorities and execution plans.

Use field data, testing results, and operator feedback to prioritize improvements and address performance gaps.

Establish effective engineering practices around design reviews, code reviews, testing, model evaluation, release readiness, and technical documentation.

Identify execution risks, dependencies, resource constraints, and technical tradeoffs and communicate them clearly to engineering leadership.

Coach and develop engineers through regular feedback, performance management, career development, and mentorship.

Recruit, interview, onboard, and retain high-performing engineers as the team grows.

Foster a culture of technical excellence, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Innovation: We are driven to break new ground. Every day presents an opportunity to challenge the status quo, think boldly, and deliver advanced solutions that transform the future of defense technology.

Integrity: We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, ensuring transparency, accountability, and trust in all our actions and partnerships.

Mission-Driven: We are focused on achieving impactful outcomes that align with our core mission—protecting lives through innovation.

Forward-Leaning: We continuously seek out new opportunities and remain at the forefront of technological advancements. We embrace change and anticipate the challenges of tomorrow with confidence and creativity.

Ownership of All Tasks: At HavocAI, no problem is too complex or too trivial. We believe that greatness comes from tackling the hardest challenges, but also in handling the smallest, sometimes thankless, tasks with the same level of commitment and care.

Servant Leadership: We lead by serving others, whether it’s supporting our employees, partners, or the broader community. Empowering those around us is key to achieving long-term success and making a lasting impact.

HavocAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.