Lead Software Engineer, Navigation and Behavior Planning

Serve Robotics; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 250,000 - 321,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading robotics company in Vancouver is seeking a Navigation and Behavior Planning Specialist to develop advanced planning technologies for autonomous sidewalk robots. You will design algorithms for complex scenarios, ensuring safe interactions with pedestrians and obstacles. The ideal candidate has a Master's degree and extensive experience in robotics, programming, and behavior planning. A competitive compensation package, ranging from $180K to $230K, is offered.

Qualifications

• Master's degree and 5+ years of experience in Robotics, AI, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Strong foundation in behavior planning methods.
• Proven experience debugging autonomous systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement advanced planning algorithms for sidewalk robots.
• Collaborate with mapping and perception teams.
• Ensure reliability and safety in real-world deployments.

Skills

Behavior planning methods

Machine learning techniques

C++ programming

Python programming

Debugging real-world systems

Education

Master's degree in Robotics, AI, Computer Science, or Mathematics

Tools

Gazebo

NVIDIA Isaac Sim

Job description

Overview

At Serve Robotics, we’re reimagining how things move in cities. Our personable sidewalk robot is our vision for the future. It’s designed to take deliveries away from congested streets, make deliveries available to more people, and benefit local businesses.

The Serve fleet has been delighting merchants, customers, and pedestrians along the way in Los Angeles while doing commercial deliveries. We’re looking for talented individuals who will grow robotic deliveries from surprising novelty to efficient ubiquity.

Who We Are

We are tech industry veterans in software, hardware, and design who are pooling our skills to build the future we want to live in. We are solving real-world problems leveraging robotics, machine learning and computer vision, among other disciplines, with a mindful eye towards the end-to-end user experience. Our team is agile, diverse, and driven. We believe that the best way to solve complicated dynamic problems is collaboratively and respectfully.

At Serve Robotics, we’re reimagining how things move through cities. We’re seeking a Navigation and Behavior Planning Specialist to lead the development of advanced planning technologies for semi-structured urban environments—such as sidewalks, intersections, and dense pedestrian pathways.

In this role, you’ll design and implement state-of-the-art algorithms that empower our robots to navigate complex scenarios with precision and safety. This includes real-time decision-making for dynamic interactions with pedestrians, vehicles, and other obstacles, as well as support for multi-point turns and other intricate maneuvers.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement advanced planning and control algorithms for autonomous sidewalk robots operating in complex urban environments.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with mapping, perception, and sensor fusion teams to build robust dynamic agent prediction models, and tightly integrate them into the planning pipeline.
• Develop a semantic navigation stack that couples planning algorithms with rich semantic understanding from multi-modal sensor inputs (e.g., vision, LiDAR).
• Drive improvements to the robot’s ability to handle failure scenarios, correct inefficiencies, and compose low-level robotic skills into high-level, goal-directed behaviors.
• Lead testing and validation efforts in both simulation and real-world deployments, ensuring planning systems are reliable, safe, and performant.
• Maintain clear and comprehensive documentation of algorithms, codebases, interfaces, and system designs to support cross-team collaboration and long-term maintainability.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree and 5+ years of experience in Robotics, AI, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Strong foundation in behavior planning methods, including state machines, behavior trees, policy learning, and probabilistic planning.
• Proven experience debugging and resolving long-tail edge cases in real-world autonomous systems through targeted behavior planning strategies.
• Working knowledge of machine learning techniques, particularly as applied to dynamic agent prediction and planning.
• Proficient in writing efficient, scalable, and robust code in C++ and Python.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical concepts clearly across teams.

What makes you stand out

• PhD and 7+ years of experience in Robotics, AI, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience with motion planning and control algorithms for autonomous mobile robots.
• Familiarity with reinforcement learning techniques for planning and control, including imitation learning and policy optimization.
• Background in integrating learning based motion planners with traditional planning pipelines for adaptive, real-time behavior.
• Proven ability to design and scale simulation environments using tools like Gazebo and NVIDIA Isaac Sim for development and validation of planning systems.
• Experience with modern software development workflows, including the Bazel build system and CI / CD pipelines for deploying production-grade autonomy stacks.

Compensation

Compensation Range : $180K - $230K