Autonomy Software Engineer
Develop, integrate, and deploy autonomy software for robotic ground vehicles, collaborating with users and cross-functional engineering teams to deliver production-quality capabilities. The role requires strong software engineering fundamentals and experience integrating software with hardware; robotics and autonomous-systems experience is preferred.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Integrate and deploy the autonomy stack on customer-bound hardware platforms and validate it in real-world conditions.
- Work across the organization and directly with end users to deliver new behaviors, payload integrations, and emerging mission use cases.
- Optimize autonomous vehicle behavior by evaluating how sensing, compute, controls, and other subsystems interact.
- Analyze test results, identify issues and root causes, and collaborate with engineering teams to resolve problems.
- Detect performance shortfalls, shape solution approaches, and implement enhancements to the core autonomy stack.
- Partner across business development and engineering teams to translate customer requirements into delivered autonomy capabilities.
- Travel 10–25% or 25–50%, depending on candidate preference and role placement.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, robotics, or a related field, or relevant equivalent experience.
- Experience integrating software on hardware products.
- Strong programming skills in C++, Python, or Java.
- Software engineering skills including software design, unit testing, and debugging.
- Ability to consistently deliver production-quality software in a continuous integration environment.
- Strong understanding of algorithms, data structures, and software design principles.
- Clean, maintainable code and documentation practices.
Nice-to-Haves
- Software development experience for robotics and autonomous systems.
- Experience with ROS2.
- Experience with state machines and motion or path planning.
- Knowledge of navigation, mapping algorithms, and robot perception.
- Familiarity with real-time operating systems and embedded programming.
Compensation and Benefits
- Base salary: $120,000–$165,000 annually.
- Equity is included in most full-time, high-demand roles.
- Premium healthcare benefits, with Forterra covering 80% of plan premiums for employees and dependents.
- Company-paid basic life/AD&D and short- and long-term disability insurance.
- Company holidays, including a winter break in December.
- 20 days of accrued PTO per year.
- At least 7 weeks of fully paid parental leave.
- $9,000 annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
- 401(k) plan with company match up to 4%.
Skills
C++, Python, Java, Ros2, Algorithms, Data Structures, Unit Testing, Debugging, Motion Planning, Path Planning, Robot Perception, Embedded Programming, Real-Time Operating Systems, Mapping
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