Software Engineer (GIS + Drone Mapping)

Company Description

Uncharted AI, an early-stage embodied AI startup backed by Antler and incubated ARTPARK, IISC develops AI-powered autonomous robotic systems for exploration and mapping in extreme, GPS-denied environments. Our dual-use platform integrates advanced autonomy, multi-sensor fusion, and AI geology models. We serve the mining, defence, and space sectors with applications in mineral discovery, planetary resource prospecting, and disaster response.

Role Description

This is a contractual, on-site role located in Bengaluru for a Software Engineer with at least 5 years of experience specializing in GIS and geospatial data engineering skills to help build and maintain pipelines that process drone camera and LiDAR data into GIS-ready outputs. The Software Engineer will design, develop, and deploy advanced software solutions for autonomous systems in extreme and GPS-denied environments. You will work on turning raw survey datasets into high-quality georeferenced raster and vector products, exportable into formats used by enterprise GIS and engineering platforms.

What you have

• 3+ years of software engineering experience (or equivalent portfolio)
• Strong proficiency in Python (data pipelines, automation, CLI tools)
• Solid GIS fundamentals:

a) CRS/projections, coordinate transformations

b) vector/raster operations, georeferencing concepts

c) geometry validity and spatial operations (buffer/clip/intersection, etc.)

• Experience with common geospatial libraries/tools such as:

a) GDAL/OGR, Rasterio, GeoPandas, Shapely, PyProj

• Comfortable working with large geospatial datasets (GeoTIFF, LAS/LAZ) and performance considerations.

What will set you apart

• LiDAR tooling: PDAL, point cloud filtering/tiling, familiarity with CloudCompare workflows
• Familiarity with mapping/photogrammetry concepts (GCPs, camera calibration basics)
• QGIS/ArcGIS experience (layer management, styling, exporting)
• Experience containerizing workflows with Docker; basic CI/CD exposure
• C++ or Rust experience for performance-critical components
• 3D geospatial visualization experience (Cesium, Potree, deck.gl, etc.)

What You Will Get To Do

• Deliver a reliable pipeline that converts raw aerial survey inputs into:

a) clean georeferenced rasters

b) consistent, validated vector layers

c) packaged exports in the required formats

• Reduce manual steps and improve reproducibility through automation and QA.