Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Evaluation

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Evaluation based in the United States.

This is a senior technical leadership role focused on building the evaluation systems that enable safe, scalable autonomous driving development.

You will define the strategy and architecture for metrics and analytical methods used to evaluate performance across the autonomy stack.

The role sits at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, statistics, software engineering, and large-scale data analysis.

You will collaborate with autonomy, systems engineering, simulation, data, and safety teams to embed evaluation into development and release decisions.

Your work will help detect regressions, uncover system behaviors, quantify performance, and establish evidence-based readiness and safety criteria.

You will influence technical strategies adopted across multiple teams while turning complex system-level results into actionable insights through dashboards and other analytical tools.

This opportunity is ideal for an experienced autonomy engineer who wants to shape evaluation platforms and accelerate the deployment of safe, validated autonomous vehicle technology.

Accountabilities:

• Define the technical strategy and architecture for metrics, analyses, and evaluation systems that measure autonomous driving software performance across the autonomy stack.
• Lead cross-functional technical initiatives with autonomy, systems engineering, simulation, and data teams to integrate evaluation into development workflows and release decisions.
• Develop and apply new statistical, machine learning, and ML introspection methods to quantify system performance, detect regressions, and identify behavioral patterns at scale.
• Own and continuously refine key autonomous vehicle evaluation metrics and KPIs used to support readiness, safety, and release decisions.
• Analyze large-scale time-series and experimental datasets to generate meaningful system-level insights and identify areas for improvement.
• Synthesize complex evaluation results, tradeoffs, and recommendations for technical and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Build or enable interactive dashboards and analytical tools that make evaluation insights readily accessible to partner teams.
• Provide technical leadership across multiple teams, influencing system architecture, evaluation strategies, and engineering decisions.
• Help evolve large-scale evaluation platforms, scenario libraries, continuous evaluation workflows, and risk assessment processes supporting autonomous systems development.

Requirements

• 7+ years of applied experience developing robotics or autonomous systems software, with experience spanning multiple subsystems from perception through planning and vehicle control.
• 3+ years of experience leading evaluation of complex dynamic systems using numerical and machine learning approaches on large-scale time-series data.
• Strong production Python development experience in collaborative engineering environments.
• Ability to work effectively within large C++ autonomy codebases.
• Proven cross-team technical leadership, including defining strategies adopted by multiple teams and influencing system and architecture decisions.
• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Machine Learning, or a related technical field.
• Experience with autonomous driving or high-stakes field robotics, including designing, executing, and interpreting large-scale simulation and field experiments, is preferred.
• Deep knowledge of statistical modeling, experimental design, and hypothesis testing for autonomy evaluation.
• Strong experience with Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, and data visualization libraries.
• Proficiency in C++ and SQL, with experience shaping logging systems, data schemas, and evaluation pipelines for large-scale autonomy testing.
• Experience with ROS or other inter-process communication frameworks, robotics-stack logging, and large-scale experiment databases is preferred.
• Experience designing or scaling evaluation platforms and working with computational geometry, linear algebra, PyTorch, and machine learning is a plus.
• Background in modeling agent interactions and designing or owning release-gating criteria and processes for autonomous systems is preferred.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to influence technical decisions across organizational boundaries.

Benefits

• Remote/Hybrid work arrangement with a Remote - United States location option.
• Full-time employment.
• Opportunity to work on advanced autonomous driving technology with direct impact on safety, system quality, and deployment readiness.
• Work alongside multidisciplinary teams spanning autonomy, simulation, systems engineering, data, and safety.
• Access to comprehensive total rewards and employee benefits designed to support well-being at work and at home.
• Benefits and programs supporting physical, financial, and emotional well-being.
• Opportunities for professional development and career growth within a global technology and engineering organization.
• Inclusive workplace culture focused on belonging, collaboration, innovation, and meaningful impact.
• Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the employment and application process.