Staff Software Engineer, Motion Planning

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to help build and improve behavior planning and motion planning systems for autonomous driving. In this role, you will own planning features end to end, from design and implementation through validation, deployment, and analysis.

You will work on real-world autonomy behavior and help the system make safe, comfortable, and effective decisions in complex driving scenarios. This role is ideal for someone with strong planning experience who enjoys building production-quality autonomy software and collaborating across the autonomy stack

In this role, you will

• Design, implement, and improve motion planning features.
• Own planning projects from problem definition through deployment.
• Debug autonomy behavior using logs, simulation, metrics, and real-world data.
• Improve how the autonomy system balances safety, comfort, progress, and operational constraints.
• Collaborate with teams across Prediction, Controls, Perception, ML, Simulation, Systems, and Safety.
• Define success metrics and validation plans for planning features.
• Write production-quality C++ software.
• Participate in technical design reviews, code reviews, and architecture discussions.
• Lead and mentor junior and senior engineers.

What you’ll bring

• Leadership, ideally managing direct reports, while being a leader who is not afraid to roll their sleeves up and set the example.
• Experience in behavior planning, motion planning, decision-making, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or related areas.
• Strong software engineering skills, preferably in C++ (Yes, you will still code).
• Experience building autonomy software in industrial, production, or near-production environments.
• Ability to debug complex robotics or autonomy behavior using logs, metrics, and simulation.
• Strong system-level judgment around safety, comfort, and deployment readiness.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and  MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies
• Our office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA
• Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
• Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation) 
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA
• Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)