{"id":69411,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning","title":"Senior Software Engineer, Behavior & Motion Planning","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":89,"open_postings":61,"ghost_share":0.098,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":76,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Robotics","role_family":"Robotics","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":185000,"max":245000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":245000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Motion Planning","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-03-19T03:00:40Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-07-11","last_verified_at":"2026-10-18T16:41:35Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":213,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":213},"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 Senior 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.\nYou 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\nIn this role, you will\nDesign, implement, and improve behavior planning and motion planning features.\nOwn planning projects from problem definition through deployment.\nDebug autonomy behavior using logs, simulation, metrics, and real-world data.\nImprove how the autonomy system balances safety, comfort, progress, and operational constraints.\nCollaborate with teams across Prediction, Controls, Perception, ML, Simulation, Systems, and Safety.\nDefine success metrics and validation plans for planning features.\nWrite production-quality C++ software.\nParticipate in technical design reviews, code reviews, and architecture discussions.\nMentor junior and senior engineers.\nWhat you’ll bring\nExperience in behavior planning, motion planning, decision-making, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or related areas.\nStrong software engineering skills, preferably in C++.\nExperience building autonomy software in industrial, production, or near-production environments.\nAbility to debug complex robotics or autonomy behavior using logs, metrics, and simulation.\nStrong system-level judgment around safety, comfort, and deployment readiness.\nStrong collaboration and communication skills\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$185,000—$245,000 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":6110,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"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":["Robotic Software & Control Systems","Autonomous Driving","Logistics","Road Transport"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-03-19T03:00:40Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":13,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.473,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":212,"expected_fill_days":76,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":245000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/kodiak-senior-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-18T19:46:11Z","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":23795,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-19T00:00:00Z"}},"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-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning"},{"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-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning"},{"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-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning"},{"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-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fkodiak-senior-software-engineer-behavior-motion-planning"}]}