Design algorithms that interpret multichannel audio for real-time decision-making in defense applications, ensuring swift system responses to threats.
Location: Onsite — Austin, TX
Employment Type: Full-Time
Job Title: Senior Acoustic DSP & Real-Time Beamforming Engineer
Company Overview
We are a funded startup building autonomous machines for defense markets. Our first product is designed to counter small, fast FPV suicide drones. Our robots require world-class perception and decision-making. If you love turning cutting-edge algorithms into field-ready capability, this is your playground.
Position Summary
We are seeking a Senior Acoustic DSP & Real-Time Beamforming Engineer to own the stack that turns raw multichannel audio into reliable bearings and alerts. You will design algorithms to function in messy outdoor conditions, optimized for low-latency execution on edge hardware to ensure our systems react faster than the threat.
Essential Duties
Build the DSP Pipeline: Design and implement the full pipeline, including framing/STFT, filtering, coherence features, and noise/wind handling.
Implement Beamforming & DoA: Compare and deploy approaches like MUSIC, ESPRIT, and MVDR, selecting the best strategy based on real-world field metrics.
Hardware Partnership: Translate physical constraints (mic spacing, SNR limits) into algorithm decisions to ensure hardware and software are perfectly synced.
Create Evaluation Infrastructure: Curate datasets and build replay harnesses and error taxonomies to answer "why did it fail" with data-driven certainty.
Edge Optimization: Optimize for compute limits on CPU/GPU with deterministic behavior and robust fallbacks for high-stakes environments.
Requirements
Experience: Demonstrated success delivering real-world multichannel audio, radar, or sonar systems validated on messy, imperfect data.
Technical Depth: Strong beamforming/DoA fundamentals and sensitivity to calibration errors (phase errors, channel mismatch).
Coding: Proficiency in Python and C++/Rust with the ability to productize, profile, and optimize code.
Iteration: A mindset that iterates from measurements: logging → hypothesis → change → field verification.
Compliance: This position requires access to export-controlled information under ITAR. Only U.S. persons are permitted to access such information.
Background: Must be willing to submit to a background check.
Nice-to-Have
Embedded deployment experience (NVIDIA Jetson)
Acoustic tracking, temporal smoothing, or multi-source handling
Prior defense startup experience
Benefits
Competitive salary + early equity
Opportunity to build systems the Department of Defense actively needs
New lab equipped with Jetsons, scopes, and 3‑D printers
Direct influence on product and technology roadmap
100% employer paid health, dental, and vision insurance
50% employer paid health, dental, and vision insurance for dependents
Unlimited PTO
Relocation assistance
About the interview
Application screen phone call (30 min)
Virtual interview with co-founder #1 (30 min via MS Teams)
Paid take-home ($500, ~4-8 hours)
Review work
Virtual interview with co-founder #2 (45 min via MS Teams)
In-person visit to Austin/Offer
Health Insurance
100% employer paid health, dental, and vision insurance
Other Benefit
Relocation assistance
Paid Time Off
Unlimited PTO
9 Mothers is a startup developing autonomous machines tailored for defense applications, with a focus on countering fast and agile FPV suicide drones. We merge advanced perception and decision-making technologies to create field-ready solutions, catering to the evolving needs of modern defense.
Please mention you found this job on AI Jobs. It helps us get more startups to hire on our site. Thanks and good luck!
Understand the required skills and qualifications, anticipate the questions you may be asked, and study well-prepared answers using our sample responses.
Engineer Q&A's