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.
Role 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:
1. Model Development & Deployment
- Design, develop, train, evaluate, and deploy computer vision models for autonomous UAV applications, including:
o Object Detection/Tracking: Dynamic/low-altitude obstacle awareness (people, vehicles, power lines, wildlife).
o Semantic/Instance Segmentation: Terrain understanding, safe-landing-zone detection, drivable/no-fly area masking.
o Depth & 3D Perception: Stereo/mono-depth, optical flow, VIO/SLAM, and 3D reconstruction for GPS-denied navigation.
o Multi-Sensor Fusion: Calibrate/synchronize and fuse RGB, thermal, event cameras, IMU, LiDAR/radar for robust perception.
o 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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:
- Bachelor's degree, Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, EE, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 58+ 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
What we offer:
- Competitive salary and benefits package.
- 100% salary during probation period.
- Full insurance contribution based on 100% of salary.
- Opportunity to work on a product that impacts millions of users.
- A dynamic and supportive work environment.
- Premium health insurance for you and your family.
- Professional growth and development opportunities.
- Annual leave 12-14 days per year + 1 Birthday Leave + 1 X'Mas
- Performance review: once per year
- Internal training/sharing and professional Training courses
- Team building, company trip, year end party, monthly activities,....
- Devices: Macbook and screen (If needed)
- Free tea and coffee
- Comfortable working Area
- Working hour: 9am - 6pm from Monday to Friday
Location: The Hallmark Building - 15 Tran Bach Dang, An Khanh Ward, HCMC.
