Location: Ottawa, Ontario (On-site at the Ottawa facility with periodic hybrid work options available)
Position Type: Full-Time
Compensation: Salary & Stock Options
Benefits: Comprehensive Health & Dental package, starting 3 weeks paid annual leave
Contact: If you have issues with your application, please email [email protected]

About Obruta

Founded in 2019, Obruta Space Solutions is enabling the in-space economy by developing the advanced autonomy systems required for in-orbit satellite servicing, logistics, and active debris removal. Today’s satellites are single-use assets that cannot be refueled, inspected, or repaired. Obruta is eliminating this barrier with our flagship product: the RPOD Kit—a turnkey, vision-guided Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) subsystem that makes autonomous spacecraft docking commonplace.

Backed by leading venture capital and top-tier space innovation programs, Obruta is executing cutting-edge perception and navigation projects with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), National Research Council (NRC), and international commercial partners.

The Role

Obruta is seeking a specialized Sensor Systems & Calibration Engineer to lead the hardware selection, optical integration, precision calibration, and multi-sensor synchronization for our flight perception payloads.

In this role, you will be Obruta's technical authority on camera hardware and calibration. Accurate 6-Degrees of Freedom (DOF) pose estimation and autonomous docking depend entirely on sub-millimeter calibration fidelity across extreme thermal and illumination swings (from direct solar glare to planetary eclipse). You will develop automated intrinsic and extrinsic calibration pipelines, manage precision hardware synchronization between optical CMOS cameras, neuromorphic event sensors, and IMUs, and interface with our commercial avionics and camera suppliers to evaluate incoming sensor hardware.

Long-term, this role will lead the architecture and qualification of Obruta's next-generation optical and sensor payloads as we transition toward building our own spacecraft.

Key Responsibilities

• Precision Camera Calibration: Design, implement, and automate robust intrinsic and extrinsic calibration pipelines for multi-camera systems (optical narrow-angle/telescope, wide-angle CMOS, and event-based neuromorphic sensors) across varying operational distances and thermal environments.
• Multi-Sensor Hardware Synchronization: Implement and verify microsecond-level hardware timestamping and triggering (e.g., PPS, PTP/IEEE 1588, GPIO hardware triggers) across cameras, IMUs, and edge computers.
• Supplier & Hardware Evaluation: Manage technical relationships with commercial-off-the-shelf and custom space-avionics hardware suppliers, establishing incoming hardware acceptance test procedures and validating power, thermal, and optical specifications.
• Laboratory Optical Testing: Design and operate space-representative illumination and optical test setups in Obruta's 6-DOF dual-arm robotics laboratory to evaluate dynamic range, lens distortion, lens flare, optical blooming, and sensor latency under orbital lighting conditions.
• Sensor Health & Degradation Modeling: Develop sensor health monitoring algorithms and noise characterization models (e.g., thermal drift, cosmic ray noise, pixel degradation) to support Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR) pipelines.
• Payload Architecture & Roadmap: Lead trade studies evaluating sensor architectures (optics, focal plane arrays, lens coatings, filtering) to guide Obruta's long-term sensor payload roadmap.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field.
• 3+ years of professional experience in camera systems, optical sensor integration, or precision sensor calibration in aerospace, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or machine vision.
• Demonstrated expertise with classical camera intrinsic/extrinsic calibration algorithms (e.g., OpenCV, Kalibr, Zhang's method, photogrammetry tools, pinhole and fisheye distortion models).
• Strong working knowledge of hardware synchronization, trigger signaling, time-stamping interfaces, and camera protocols (MIPI CSI-2, USB3 Vision, GigE Vision).
• Proficiency in Python and/or C++ for writing automated calibration routines, sensor driver interfaces, and data analysis pipelines.
• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in Canada. Successful candidates must able to obtain and maintain a security assessment under the Controlled Goods Program.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience working with neuromorphic / event-based vision sensors (NVS) (e.g., Prophesee, iniVation).
• Familiarity with space environment considerations for optics and sensors (thermal vacuum drift, radiation tolerance, outgassing, stray light analysis).
• Hands-on experience with optical calibration equipment (integrating spheres, collimators, optical targets, lux meters, spectrometer tools).
• Experience integrating sensor data streams with Extended Kalman Filters or robotic state estimation algorithms.

Why Join Obruta?

• Solve Critical Space Hardware Challenges: Take full ownership of the optical accuracy and calibration precision that makes autonomous docking safe and reliable.
• Pioneer Neuromorphic Space Sensing: Work at the leading edge of event-based vision technology for space robotics and proximity operations.
• High Ownership: Shape the sensor hardware architecture and testing methodology for current RPOD Kits and future standalone spacecraft.

Additional Position and Application Info

This posting is for an existing vacancy. Thank you to all who apply. Candidates who are successfully selected for an interview will be notified by email.

We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, even if they don't check every single box. We recognize the impact of imposter syndrome and value practical capability, initiative, and drive.

If the posted salary range, work location, or anything else does not exactly align with your expectations, please let us know. We'd hate to miss out on the opportunity of working together without a discussion first.

Equity

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals, including women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities, and people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Accommodation

If you require accommodation during any stage of the recruitment process, please contact us at [email protected], and we will work with you to meet your needs.

To apply, click the "Apply now" button on this page and fill out the form. Thank you for considering Obruta, we're excited to hear from you!