Technical Lead - State Estimation
Overland AI · Seattle, WA
$200,000–$260,000from the description
Jul 9, 2026
Seattle, WA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A technical leadership role focused on building and owning the state estimation stack for autonomous off-road ground vehicles. The work centers on localization, mapping, and multi-sensor fusion in GPS-denied environments, using probabilistic and optimization-based methods alongside production C++ development. The role also involves mentoring robotics engineers and coordinating with perception, planning, and controls teams. Best suited to a seasoned roboticist with a strong background in SLAM and deployed estimation systems.
Senior level · 5+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Master's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The title 'Technical Lead in State Estimation' carries no explicit seniority level word, so the title states no level; however, the scope (leading architecture, mentoring a team, 5+ years of production SLAM/state estimation) firmly supports Senior.
The role sits at the boundary between 15-1252 Software Developers and 15-1299 Computer Occupations, All Other (robotics/autonomy engineering). The heavy emphasis on production C++ software development and shipping a real-time autonomy stack tips it to 15-1252.
Degree requirement: the JD states 'MS or PhD … Minimum Qualifications', making an MS the hard floor. A PhD is listed under Desired Qualifications and is therefore preferred, not required.
GTSAM, Ceres, and g2o are listed together as acceptable factor-graph optimization libraries; Ceres and g2o are captured as alternatives to GTSAM.
ROS 2, DDS, machine learning integration, terrain-relative navigation, and open-source contributions all appear under 'Desired Qualifications & Experience' and are therefore preferred.
Publications or significant technical contributions in SLAM/VIO/LIO are listed under Minimum Qualifications but describe a research output rather than a named technology or tool, so they are not emitted as a skill.
No remote status is stated; given the field-test-forward, hardware-centric nature of the role at a Seattle-HQ defense robotics company, remote is set to false.
Read the full posting
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