Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Machine Learning Runtime, Motion Planning)

Join our team as a Senior/Staff Software Engineer specializing in Machine Learning Runtime and Motion Planning for autonomous vehicles. In this role, you will design, implement, and optimize the production runtime pipeline for ML-based autonomous vehicle planning. You will integrate machine learning models into a scalable, safety-critical planning software stack and optimize end-to-end inference performance. You will also develop high-performance C++ components, design runtime validation and safety mechanisms, and investigate complex runtime issues.

Collaborate closely with machine learning engineers to efficiently deploy new models into production while maintaining system reliability and performance.

Responsibilities

• Additionally, you will collaborate closely with machine learning engineers and drive continuous improvements in runtime architecture.
• Design, implement, and optimize the production runtime pipeline for ML-based autonomous vehicle planning.
• Integrate machine learning models into a scalable, safety-critical planning software stack and optimize end-to-end inference performance.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to drive problems from investigation through implementation, validation, and deployment
• Experience designing validation strategies, automated testing, runtime monitoring, and observability for production systems

Requirements

• Excellent debugging and analytical problem-solving skills, with the ability to systematically investigate complex software and system-level issues
• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
• Experience deploying machine learning inference into production environments
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including software architecture, testing, and code quality
• Familiarity with TensorRT, CUDA, ONNX Runtime, or similar inference acceleration frameworks
• Strong C++ programming skills with experience building, optimizing, and maintaining large-scale software systems
• Experience tracing failures across multi-stage pipelines, identifying root causes, and implementing reliable long-term solutions
• Excellent communication skills and experience collaborating across machine learning and systems engineering teams

4+ years of experience developing high-performance production software

• Experience optimizing real-time systems, including latency, throughput, memory usage, and multithreaded performance
• Experience with autonomous driving planning, prediction, or robotics software
• Experience profiling CPU and GPU performance using modern profiling tools

Experience with distributed systems, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure

• Deep expertise in modern C++ (C++17/20) and high-performance software engineering
• Experience optimizing production inference pipelines for low latency and high throughput
• Experience developing internal debugging, visualization, profiling, or observability tools
• Strong systems thinking with the ability to balance correctness, performance, maintainability, scalability, and safety
• Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex production issues involving machine learning, runtime software, and system integration
• Demonstrated technical leadership and experience mentoring engineers on large production software projects

Preferred

• Experience deploying software on embedded GPU platforms
• Familiarity with PyTorch and machine learning workflows
• Candidates who stand out typically have one or more of the following: