3D Reconstruction Research Scientist

About Niantic Spatial

AI has learned from almost everything online, but it still struggles with the physical world, where 99.5% of economic activity happens. It doesn’t know where things are, how spaces fit together, or what changes over time.

That’s one of the biggest unsolved problems in AI, and it’s the one we’re solving at Niantic Spatial. We build spatial AI models and services so people and machines can reason, learn and act safely in the physical world. We turn camera imagery, video, sensor data and archives into accurate, AI-readable representations of real places that robots can train in and machines can use to know exactly where they are.

In physical AI, mistakes have real consequences. That’s why we build AI grounded in measured reality, not guesswork, so the people and machines relying on it can trust it to get things right.

Our team built some of the world’s most widely used maps. Now we’re building something bigger: a living, measured record of the real world that machines can query, learn from and use to understand how places change over time. If you want to help AI understand the world we actually live in, come build with us.

About the Role

We are looking for 3D Reconstruction Research Scientist to join our Research Team in London.

Our team researches and builds the 3D reconstruction technology behind Niantic Spatial's platform. These pipelines turn casually captured or domain specific imagery into high-fidelity explorable 3D reconstructions. This entails anything from Structure-from-Motion through to 3D Gaussian Splatting, feed-forward models, and generative models. Our team shipped 360 splatting to consumers and enterprise customers, developed the splatting tech that runs on phones, shipped multiple POCs to enterprise customers, and have innovated on countless AR technologies. Our team has published at top venues (CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, SIGGRAPH); more often than not, our papers end up in production. We're hiring a researcher to work at both ends of that pipeline. You will implement and iterate on the state-of-the-art for both academic publishing and production, regularly working on prototypes with a short turnaround into customer-facing production.

You will work alongside world-class researchers in computer vision, machine learning, graphics, and robotics to develop new approaches for large-scale spatial understanding, localization, reconstruction, scene understanding, and geospatial foundation models.

What You’ll Do

• Conduct original research in computer vision, machine learning, and spatial AI.

• Design, implement, and evaluate novel algorithms for:

  • 3D reconstruction

  • Neural scene representations

  • 3D Gaussian Splatting

  • Geometric deep learning

  • Structure-from-Motion (SfM)

  • Meshing

  • Feed-forward models

  • Generative models

  • Spatial foundation models

• Collaborate with research scientists and engineers to transition promising ideas into future products.

• Develop large-scale experiments and benchmarking frameworks.

• Work directly with the realities of production with real capture conditions, real hardware constraints, and real customers.

• Publish research findings at leading conferences such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, or SIGGRAPH.

What You’ll Bring

• PhD in Computer Vision, Robotics, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a closely related field. Exceptionally strong candidates with equivalent experience in industry would be considered.

• A strong research track record in 3D computer vision: reconstruction, depth estimation, novel view synthesis, SfM, SLAM, or closely related areas.

• Strong publication record at top-tier conferences such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, SIGGRAPH, NeurIPS, etc.

• Strong programming skills in Python and experience in PyTorch.

• Evidence that you can carry an idea from research into something real; that may be a shipped feature, a production pipeline, a widely used open-source release, or similar.

• Ability to independently drive research projects from idea generation through experimentation and publication.

Nice to Have

• Experience with classical reconstruction tooling (COLMAP or similar).

• C++ or CUDA experience, and a feel for performance and on-device constraints.

• Experience with traditional 3D techniques — meshing, texturing, or bringing modern geometry or generative representations into native 3D.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: Competitive market rate. Compensation also includes an annual bonus, equity, and a comprehensive benefits package.

Location & Work Model

This role is based in our London office, with three days per week in office.

Inclusive Application

We know the strongest candidates don’t always tick every box. If you’re excited about this role and believe you could do it well, we encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn’t match every qualification listed — you may be exactly who we’re looking for.

Equal Opportunity

Niantic Spatial is an equal opportunity employer. Individuals seeking employment at Niantic Spatial are considered without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, age, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected category under applicable laws. Niantic Spatial will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in accordance with applicable laws. Please contact your recruiter if you want to request an accommodation for the job application or interview process.

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