Senior Staff / Principal Software Engineer - Freeway Autonomy at Zoox

Zoox is on an ambitious journey to develop a full-stack autonomous robotaxi solution, and freeways are the next frontier. We are looking for a Senior Staff or Principal Software Engineer who has played a significant role in removing the driver from an autonomous vehicle operating on freeways, and who can help Zoox navigate that same journey. You will bring deep technical expertise in a relevant autonomy domain — the specific domain is flexible — along with the hard-won judgment that comes from having taken a freeway driving program from supervised operation to driverless. This is a highly visible role with broad influence across the Autonomy organization.

In this role, you will: • Guide autonomy-wide initiatives toward driverless freeway operation, including setting the technical vision and strategy, building the roadmap, and driving cross-functional execution

• Identify the highest-risk gaps between our current freeway capabilities and driver-out readiness, and lead the engineering work to close them

• Develop algorithms that enable freeway driving capabilities, spanning architecture, design, implementation, integration, testing, and verification and validation

• Communicate technical trade-offs, risk assessments, and readiness recommendations to diverse stakeholders, including senior and executive leadership

• Mentor engineers across the freeway program and raise the bar for how we design, test, and validate high-speed autonomous driving

Qualifications: • 10+ years of industry software experience

• Demonstrated technical leadership of removing the human driver from an autonomous vehicle operating on freeways or highways

• Deep technical expertise in at least one autonomy domain, such as behavior/motion planning, perception, prediction, simulation, or systems engineering

• Proven ability to lead large, cross-functional engineering efforts from ambiguity to shipped results

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical trade-offs for varied audiences including executives

Bonus Qualifications: • Experience scaling and operating a driverless service after driver removal

• Experience constructing safety cases or defining driver-out readiness criteria for high-speed autonomous driving

• Proficiency in C++