{"id":1266924,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-software-engineer-mapping","title":"Senior Autonomy Software Engineer, Mapping","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":88,"open_postings":15,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.267,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":78,"computed_at":"2026-09-29T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","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":200000,"max":260000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":260000},"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":"Inertial Navigation","optional":false},{"name":"Localization","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-25T18:54:03Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-25","last_verified_at":"2026-09-29T20:05:07Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":4,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":4},"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.\nWe are looking for a Staff Engineer on our Calibration, Localization and Mapping (CLAM) team - a technical leader with deep expertise in state estimation, inertial navigation, and sensed odometry who can set technical direction across the team and organization.\nIn this role, you will:\nSet the technical strategy and architecture for our onboard navigation and pose estimation systems.\nLead the design and development of advanced sensor fusion and pose estimation approaches across IMU, camera, and lidar sensors, anticipating failure modes before they arise in the field.\nDrive the direction of visual and lidar odometry algorithms, including evaluating build-vs-adopt tradeoffs for new techniques.\nDefine and evangelize navigation metrics and evaluation methodology used across the org to assess algorithm and system performance.\nServe as a technical escalation point for complex, ambiguous, or cross-cutting localization problems.\n\nEvaluate sensor performance and optimize sensor selection.\nVerify correct sensor calibrations, settings, and uncertainty characterizations.\nWhat you’ll bring:\nStrong technical background. BS, MS or PhD with academic or industry experience in building navigation, localization, and odometry systems.\nExpert in C++ and strong problem-solving skills. \nStrong software engineering skills and experience building high-reliability deployed applications . You write well-designed, highly maintainable code. Code is your craft.\nDeep experience transforming raw sensor data from GNSS, IMU, wheel speed, etc. into 6-DOF pose using Kalman Filtering, factor graphs, or comparable state estimation techniques - and judgment on when each approach is appropriate.\nExperience with computer vision, visual odometry, and/or odometry from point clouds\nA history of mentoring engineers and elevating the technical practices of a team.\nA team player. You take ownership and work with the team to deliver exceptional results. You are interested in the performance of the entire system across engineering disciplines.\nAbility to build and iterate quickly. You enjoy working fast and smart, and you are comfortable in defining and building lasting infrastructure components from scratch.\nHands on. Curious. Flexible. Interested in new domains to expand your horizons and provide a complete system wide solution. \nGreat communicator. You have experience writing clear, concise design documentation to gather feedback from across the team to find the best solution.\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$200,000—$260,000 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":6826,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","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":"2026-09-25T22:40:08Z"}],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":3,"expected_fill_days":78,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-09-29T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":260000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-software-engineer-mapping","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-autonomy-software-engineer-mapping.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-09-30T04:11:40Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","usage":{"tier":"crawler","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":2836,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":2164,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z"}}}