Vannevar Labs
Head of Perception
Job Summary
The role involves leading a team of signal processing and machine learning engineers to develop innovative RF sensing products for government and defense applications. The candidate will oversee research and development of DSP and machine learning approaches, coordinate with cross-disciplinary teams, and manage sensing solutions from concept to production. Leadership experience, technical proficiency in Python and C++, and experience with defense clients are key requirements. The position offers a flexible, remote-first work environment with extensive employee benefits focused on health, wellness, and family support.
Required Skills
Benefits
Job Description
Our mission is to be the technology backbone for strategic competition against peer adversaries. These missions – including intelligence, information operations, special activities, and perception management – are happening today and their success or failure will determine if we go to war tomorrow.
We've been on the front lines of these missions since 2019, and have grown to support a wide range of missions across all US service branches, multiple combatant commands, partner nations, and interagency stakeholders. We deploy both hardware and software products to support people on the front lines that span collection, planning / assessments, and effects.
We've grown from $3M in run-rate revenue in 2021 to $80M in run-rate revenue today. We've been profitable since 2022 and have raised $91M in venture capital funding through Series B. We're valued at $1.5B as of 2025.
About the role
The sensing team at Vannevar Labs is building a new hardware product that supports a widespread need for cheap, attritable, and easily coordinated sensing. We’re looking for an experience leader in the RF signal processing and sensing space to lead a team of signal processing and machine learning engineers in building an intelligent signal detection and characterization platform.
You will function as the lead for a growing team of signal processing and machine learning engineers and set the overall direction of signal detection, characterization, and identification at Vannevar Labs to address mission critical sensing requirements for our end users in the United States Government.
What you'll do
- Own R&D of novel DSP and machine learning approaches to address our end users’ diverse sensing needs
- Collaborate with cross disciplinary engineering teams to integrate you and your teams’ work in production
- Act as the people lead for a small team of DSP and machine learning specialists
- Be a hands on technical contributor to unblock or bootstrap key initiatives
- Travel up to 20% of time to meet with internal and external stakeholders
What we look for
- 5+ years of experience leading teams building RF sensing systems
- 5+ years of experience as a signal processing engineer, RF systems engineer, or similar discipline
- Proven track record of managing sensing products from research to production
- Proficiency in Python, C++
- Experience working with customers in the United States Department of Defense or other government agencies
What we offer
We’re proud to offer competitive benefits that support our employees. Some key highlights of our benefits package include:
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 100% remote first culture. You can work from anywhere in the US and all full time employees have WeWork access
- Unlimited PTO including competitive vacation and holiday schedules
- Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend, in-home office setup stipend and family planning assistance
- Salary top-up during military reserve duty
- Fully paid parental leave
- Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.
Vannevar Labs
Vannevar Labs brings together a multi-disciplinary group of people with a wide range of experiences, over 40 years of military service, engineers from some of the top tech companies and startups, and a passion for delivering mission critical tools to support public servants on the front lines of the country's most important national security problems
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