Machine Learning Engineer, Action Recognition
Company
NestAI is a European AI lab for defence delivering the adaptive operating system for modern battlefield operations. We develop adaptive intelligence for unmanned and command systems: AI that continuously learns from operational data and adapts to changing conditions.
NestOS is our open, modular and interoperable platform that enables this at scale and keeps capability evolution under sovereign European control. Founded in 2025 by Peter Sarlin, whose previous company Silo AI became Europe's largest AI acquisition, NestAI brings together over 200 engineers and scientists and partners with leading European defence forces and industry.
Role Description
You'll join NestAI's Edge AI Chapter, working on our Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) pipeline for unmanned and command systems, as part of the Pegasus project. This role is focused on action recognition: detecting and classifying what objects are doing from video streams, and building the taxonomy of actions that different object classes can perform.
This is a senior/lead role: you'll help shape how action recognition fits into the wider ATR pipeline, and guide junior engineers on the team.
Day-to-Day Responsibilities:
Developing action recognition models that leverage temporal information from tracked objects.
Building and maintaining a taxonomy of actions tailored to different object classes (e.g. humans vs. vehicles).
Collaborating with the detector and tracking teams to feed classified actions into NestAI's ATR / S.A.L.U.T.E. reporting pipeline.
Mentoring and helping guide junior team members.
Qualifications:
Previous experience in an industry context, with a track record of taking systems into production.
Hands-on video analytics experience.
Proven hands-on experience detecting and classifying actions from video streams (temporal/spatio-temporal action recognition).
Ability to design and build a taxonomy of actions across different object classes.
Understanding of how action recognition fits into the broader Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) pipeline (detector, tracker, classifier).
Experience with GStreamer, DeepStream (NVIDIA) or DLStreamer (Intel) is a plus.
Background in 3D vision is a plus.
Experience with temporal/sequence modeling architectures for video (e.g. 3D CNNs, video transformers) is a plus.
Background in building action taxonomies or ontologies for computer vision systems is a plus.
If your background doesn't match every requirement but the work resonates with you, we'd encourage you to apply. How you think, learn, and take ownership matters more to us than ticking every box.
Why join NestAI
At NestAI, you’ll build meaningful, real-world technology as part of a world-class team of engineers, scientists, and experienced professionals. You’ll work on systems where reliability genuinely matters, contribute to Europe’s security and resilience, and solve problems that demand depth, trust, and craftsmanship.
If you want to build with purpose - and with leading experts in the field - you’ve come to the right place.
What we offer
We offer a growing set of practical benefits to support your work and wellbeing, day to day:
Occupational healthcare (currently provided by Mehiläinen)
Epassi Flex benefit (sports, culture, commuting, wellbeing)
Lunch benefit (25% tax-free coverage)
Regular team lunches and all-hands events
Your choice of Mac or PC
Holiday allowance (50% of holiday salary)
Phone benefit according to company policy (subscription and device)
We are continuously developing and expanding our benefits as we grow.
Practicalities
Employment is subject to applicable security screening (including SUPO, where required).
NestAI is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants based on their skills, experience, and potential.
- Locations
- Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Oulu
- Remote status
- Hybrid
- Employment type
- Full-time
About NestAI
Physical AI is moving from theory to reality. The systems being built today will shape how societies protect people, operate critical infrastructure, and respond under pressure for decades to come.
At NestAI, close to 200 engineers and scientists work at the intersection of software, hardware, and AI — developing autonomy, sensing, and command capabilities for mission-critical use. This isn’t demo work. It’s real systems, built for real environments.
We build in Europe, with open and interoperable architectures, so that critical capabilities can evolve over time without lock-in — and remain accountable to the societies they serve.