Senior Data Scientist – Computer Vision

Company Overview:

Qualgo is an R&D center specializing in cybersecurity products and solutions. We are on a mission to build a trusted cyberspace where individuals and businesses can thrive with confidence.

Job Summary:

As a Senior Data Scientist focused on Computer Vision for autonomous UAVs, you will be a key contributor to the design, training, and deployment of on-board perception systems that enable safe, reliable flight. You'll specialize in real-time vision for tasks such as obstacle detection/avoidance, target recognition, landing, and mapping, and you'll work with large, diverse image/video datasets—including simulated data—to deliver production-grade models that run under tight SWaP (size/weight/power) constraints. You'll collaborate closely with autonomy, controls, firmware, and safety/compliance teams to ship a world-class perception stack that meets operational and regulatory requirements across multiple markets.

Key Responsibilities:

Model Development & Deployment:

• Design, develop, train, evaluate, and deploy computer vision models for autonomous UAV applications, including:
• Object Detection/Tracking: Dynamic/low-altitude obstacle awareness (people, vehicles, power lines, wildlife).
• Semantic/Instance Segmentation: Terrain understanding, safe-landing-zone detection, drivable/no-fly area masking.
• Depth & 3D Perception: Stereo/mono-depth, optical flow, VIO/SLAM, and 3D reconstruction for GPS-denied navigation.
• Multi-Sensor Fusion: Calibrate/synchronize and fuse RGB, thermal, event cameras, IMU, LiDAR/radar for robust perception.
• Image/Signal Quality Assessment: Auto-exposure/blur/noise checks, sensor health monitoring, and data QA gates.
• Work with large, heterogeneous datasets (real flight logs, edge cases, nighttime/thermal, adverse weather) plus simulation and synthetic data with domain randomization.
• Implement data preprocessing, augmentation, active learning, and scalable labeling strategies.
• Use PyTorch/TensorFlow and OpenCV; productionize models with ONNX/TensorRT, quantization/pruning, and other inference optimizations for edge accelerators (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson).
• Integrate models into the autonomy stack (ROS 2, PX4/ArduPilot) with real-time interfaces, fault detection, and safe fallback behaviors.
• Deploy and monitor models in production; build telemetry loops for continuous improvement.

Data Analysis & Insights:

• Define and track performance metrics (e.g., mAP, MOTA, latency/FPS, power/thermal budgets) and go/no-go criteria for flight.
• Analyze failure modes from flight tests and post-flight logs; deliver clear recommendations to product/engineering.

Collaboration:

• Partner with product and mission teams to translate requirements (range, altitude, environment, targets) into CV solutions.
• Work closely with autonomy/controls/firmware to ensure end-to-end system performance and timing guarantees.
• Collaborate with safety & compliance to align with airspace and operational regulations in target markets (e.g., Vietnam, Thailand, UAE), ensuring appropriate data handling and operational procedures.
• Share best practices with fellow data scientists; contribute to standards, code reviews, and documentation.

Research & Innovation:

• Stay current with CV/robotics literature (Transformers for vision, event-based vision, uncertainty/OOD detection).
• Explore novel techniques (self-supervised learning, NeRF/occupancy mapping, learned sensor fusion) and evaluate them in SITL/HITL and flight tests.
• Champion MLOps: experiment tracking, model registry, CI/CD for ML, reproducible training, and model monitoring on-drone and in the cloud.

Qualifications:

Education:

Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, EE, or related field (or equivalent experience).

Experience:

• 5–8+ years in data science/ML with a strong focus on computer vision and at least 2+ years deploying models to real-time or safety-critical systems.
• Proficiency in Python (preferred) and C++ for performance-critical on-board code.
• Deep knowledge of modern CV: detection/tracking, segmentation, depth/optical flow, VIO/SLAM, 3D geometry (camera models, epipolar geometry, PnP).
• Hands-on with ROS/ROS 2 and flight stacks (PX4/ArduPilot), including time synchronization and message pipelines.
• Experience deploying to edge hardware (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson Orin/Xavier) with TensorRT/ONNX; comfort with quantization/pruning and memory/latency trade-offs.
• Strong sensor calibration experience (mono/stereo cameras, IMU, LiDAR) and fusion (EKF/UKF or learned).
• Proven track record of production deployments, telemetry-driven iteration, and operating within latency, power, and thermal constraints.
• Excellent communication; ability to lead/mentor and collaborate across autonomy, firmware, and product.

Preferred:

• Prior work on autonomous robots/UAVs or other safety-critical platforms.
• Experience with simulation (AirSim, Gazebo/Ignition), synthetic data, and domain randomization.
• Familiarity with thermal/event cameras, nighttime/low-light perception, and adverse-weather robustness.
• Knowledge of mapping (TSDF/occupancy grids, loop closure), NeRF/implicit fields, and multi-view geometry at scale.
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) for data pipelines and model training; Kubernetes is a plus.
• Experience working under regional regulations/operational constraints (e.g., Southeast Asia/Middle East operations).

Skills:

• Exceptional technical skills in computer vision and machine learning; strong analytical/problem-solving abilities.
• Clear, concise communication and cross-functional collaboration.
• Ability to own problems end-to-end, operate independently, and drive measurable outcomes.
• Passion for building innovative, high-impact perception solutions that make autonomous flight safer and more capable.
• Fluency in English is a plus

What We Offer

• Meaningful work & impact:
  Work on products that protect users' data and make a real difference in people's lives.
• Competitive rewards:
  Great work deserves great rewards — enjoy competitive pay and recognition for contribution and impact you make.
• Growth & well-being:
  Fuel your growth with hands-on learning. Enjoy extra leaves, and premium healthcare for you and your family.
• People & workspace:
  Collaborate, create, and celebrate — a modern workspace built for teamwork, fun, and innovation.
• Young & dynamic environment:
  Work with stunning colleagues where creativity thrives, ideas are welcome, and every day brings new challenges and opportunities.

Location:
The Hallmark Building - 15 Tran Bach Dang, An Khanh Ward, HCMC.