{"id":75926,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer","title":"Senior Autonomy Engineer","company":{"id":29704,"name":"Kodiak","domain":"kodiak.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/kodiak","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":86,"open_postings":16,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.375,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":76,"computed_at":"2026-10-16T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Mountain View, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":190000,"max":230000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":230000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Motion Planning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-04-01T16:42:28Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-19","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T04:48:05Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":198,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":198},"description":"Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous technology. In 2024, Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.\nThis role demands deep technical expertise, mathematical rigor, and first-principles thinking to ensure safety in autonomous driving. You will own critical elements of our overall safety strategy to deliver safe, transformative autonomous trucking systems.\nThe Autonomy Safety team is charged with an incredibly challenging task: how to make - and prove - that an autonomous truck is incredibly safe (fewer than one fatal collision per 10⁸ hours). There is no textbook for this problem. You will be part of a small, high-impact team working at the frontier of safety, leveraging existing methods and pioneering new ones when needed.\nWhat You'll Do: \nWrite C++ to efficiently search high-dimensional failure spaces at scale\nUse first-principles analysis to develop requirements for safe perception, localization, prediction, motion planning, and control, collaborating directly with the Autonomy Software teams building those systems\nIdentify failure modes and edge cases that expose weaknesses in our system before they appear in on-road environments.\nPerform hazard analysis, risk assessments, and fault tree analysis that feed directly into our safety case and drive system design decisions\nProvide analysis to support complex autonomy system design trade-offs that affect safety and performance\nLead and support structured testing campaigns like simulation, track, on-road, and hardware-in-the-loop to validate that our safety claims hold\nPioneer new methods when existing ones aren't enough to hit our safety targets\nDrive safety thinking cross-functionally - this team doesn't sit in a corner; it shapes how everyone builds\nWhat you’ll bring:\nM.S. or Ph.D. in engineering, mathematics, statistics, or a related technical field\nDeep understanding of kinematics, dynamics, and system modeling\nStrong foundation in probability and statistics\nStrong programming skills in C++ and/or Python\nHands-on work across one or more of the following:Sensor fusion and object tracking (e.g., Kalman filtering, particle filters, least squares estimation)\nMachine learning methods (e.g., neural networks, SVMs, kNN, regression models, decision trees)\nClassical computer vision (e.g., edge/corner detection, camera calibration, optics)\nMotion planning (e.g., A*, RRT, potential fields)\nControl systems (e.g., PID, nonlinear control, model predictive control)\n\nExcellent verbal and written communication skills, particularly on technical topics\nSafety analysis methodologies: FTA, FMEA, HARA\nSafety-critical standards: ISO 26262, DO-178, IEC 61508, SOTIF, UL 4600\nRedundancy strategies and fault-tolerant system design\nWhat we offer:\nCompetitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses\nExcellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)\nMetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance\nFlexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies\nOur office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA\nOffice perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging\nLong Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance\nWellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation) \nFidelity 401(k)\nCommuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA\nVarious incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)\nThe pay range listed below reflects the base salary in our SF/Silicon Valley location, across several internal levels. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors including: work location, experience, relevant training, education, skill level and performance during interview. Total compensation at Kodiak includes base pay, equity, bonus and a competitive benefits package\nCalifornia Pay Range\n$190,000—$230,000 USD\nAt Kodiak, we strive to build a diverse community working towards our common company goals in a safe and collaborative environment where harassment of any kind is strictly prohibited. Kodiak is committed to equal opportunity employment regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.\nIn alignment with its business operations, Kodiak adheres to all relevant statutes, regulations, and administrative prerequisites. Accordingly, roles that carry more sensitive requirements may be limited to candidates that can satisfy additional scrutiny and eligibility for such positions may hinge on verification of a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status. Should the position require, and Kodiak determines that a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status necessitate an export license, bar the candidate from the position, or otherwise fall under national security-related restrictions, Kodiak will consider the candidate for alternative positions unaffected by such restrictions, under terms and conditions set forth at Kodiak’s sole discretion, or, as an alternative, opt not to proceed with the candidate’s application. If applicable, Kodiak may provide visa sponsorship for eligible candidates.\nWe use a third-party AI tool (Endorsed) to assist in the initial screening of applications. As part of the evaluation process, we provide Endorsed with job requirements and candidate-submitted applications. Final hiring decisions are made by our human recruitment team, and no automated system makes the ultimate decision regarding hiring. Certain features of the platform may qualify it as an Automated Employment Decision Tool (AEDT) under applicable regulations. We began using Endorsed on January 1, 2026. You can review the independent bias audit report covering our use of Endorsed [here](https://endorsed.com/local-law-144). By submitting your application, you acknowledge that your application may be processed by AI systems as part of the screening and selection process. If you have any questions or would like to request a separate review of your application, please contact  with \"Separate Review Request\" in the email subject line.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6956,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"master","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Annual bonuses","Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Autonomous Driving","Logistics","Road Transport"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-05T10:47:10Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":13,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.457,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":197,"expected_fill_days":76,"reasons":["conf:2","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-16T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":230000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T05:45:50Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":7793,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-18T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":29704},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=29704"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fkodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fkodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fkodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fkodiak-senior-autonomy-engineer"}]}