Staff, ML Engineer - Learned Behaviors / RL Planning

Torc Robotics; Mount Royal; Hybrid; CAD 209,000 - 314,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading autonomous vehicle technology company in Montreal seeks a Staff ML Engineer to lead the development of reinforcement learning-driven behavior models for autonomous trucks. This role requires over 10 years of experience in applied machine learning and strong programming skills in Python and Pytorch. The company offers a competitive compensation package, including stock options, medical benefits, and flexibility in work schedule. A diverse and inclusive workplace is promoted, encouraging applicants from various backgrounds.

Benefits

Competitive compensation package

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

RRSP plan with employer match

Public Transit Subsidy

Flexible schedule

Generous paid vacation

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in applied machine learning in autonomous vehicles.
• Proven track record of designing learned behavior models in production systems.
• Strong programming skills in Python.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, development, and validation of behavior models for autonomy.
• Define and implement data strategies for large behavior datasets.
• Develop scalable model training pipelines for quick iterations.

Skills

Applied machine learning

Python

Pytorch

Distributed computing

Model training

Reinforcement learning

Education

M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, or related field

Tools

Pytorch (Lightning)

Ray

Job description

Staff, ML Engineer - Learned Behaviors / RL Planning

About the Company

At Torc, we have always believed that autonomous vehicle technology will transform how we travel, move freight, and do business.

A leader in autonomous driving since 2007, Torc has spent over a decade commercializing our solutions with experienced partners. Now a part of the Daimler family, we are focused solely on developing software for automated trucks to transform how the world moves freight.

Join us and catapult your career with the company that helped pioneer autonomous technology, and the first AV software company with the vision to partner directly with a truck manufacturer.

Meet the Team:

As a Staff Learned Behaviors Machine Learning Engineer, you will lead the development, deployment, and scaling of ReinforcementLearning -driven behavior models for autonomous trucks. You will collaborate across perception, prediction, planning, and safety teams to craft learned behavior modules that generalize across scenarios and drive safe, efficient, and human-like decision making in real-world operations.

This is a technical leadership role focused on model innovation and maturity, not downstream feature integration.

What You’ll Do

• Lead architecture, development, and validation of learned behavior models (e.g., driver mimicry, multi-agent interaction, behavior cloning, reinforcement learning) for highway and freight-truck autonomy.
• Define and implement data strategies: collect, label, and curate large behavior datasets (in-vehicle, simulation, fleet logs) for training and evaluation.
• Develop scalable model training pipelines, infrastructure, and tooling to iterate quickly on behavior models, from prototype to production deployment.
• Design and track performance metrics, analyze model behavior, diagnose failure modes, and drive continuous improvement of learned behaviors in simulation and on-vehicle.
• Work with simulation, scenario, and validation teams to embed learned behavior models into verification and validation frameworks, ensuring coverage across operational design domains (ODDs).
• Mentor and lead mid and senior-level ML engineers, set technical direction, and drive best practices in learned behavior engineering across the team.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• 10+ years of professional experience (or equivalent) in applied machine learning in autonomous vehicles, robotics, simulation or a related domain.
• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Proven track record of designing and shipping learned behavior or policy models (e.g., behavior cloning, imitation learning, RL, multi-agent models) in production or near-production systems.
• Strong programming skills in the AI domain (Python, Pytorch (Lightning), pandas)
• Experience with open-source distributed computing framework, specifically Ray.
• Deep understanding of ML architectures (e.g., RNNs, transformers, graph neural networks, behavior prediction networks) and system-level integration into autonomy stacks.
• Experience with large-scale data pipelines, model training infrastructure, versioning, and deployment (cloud and/or embedded).

Bonus Points!

• Experience in trucking, highway autonomy, or heavy-vehicle behavior modeling.
• Expertise in Ray
• Experience integrating learned behavior modules into simulation and V&V workflows for autonomous systems.
• Familiarity with simulation frameworks, scenario libraries, and coverage of ODDs.
• Background in reinforcement learning in real-world or simulation, imitation learning of human drivers, or multi-agent modeling in vehicle contexts.
• Experience with sensor models, vehicle dynamics models, and domain adaptation from simulation to real world.

Knowledge of English is required since the selected candidate will need to collaborate daily with English-speaking colleagues in the United States and work with technical documentation written exclusively in English.

Work Location: For this position, we are open to hiring in either the Torc Montreal, Quebec (Canada) or Ann Arbor, MI (U.S.) office work locations in a hybrid capacity. We are also open to hiring Remote in the United States or Canada.

Perks of Being a Full-time Torc’r (Canada)

Torc cares about our team members and we strive to provide benefits and resources to support their health, work/life balance, and future. Our culture is collaborative, energetic, and team focused. Torc offers:

• A competitive compensation package that includes a bonus component and stock options
• Medical, dental, and vision for full-time employees
• RRSP plan with a 4% employer match
• Public Transit Subsidy (Montreal area only)
• Flexibility in schedule and generous paid vacation
• Company-wide holiday office closuresLife Insurance

At Torc, we’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We celebrate the uniqueness of our Torc’rs and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status, or disabilities. Even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications listed for this opportunity, we encourage you to apply.

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Torc's total compensation package will also include our corporate bonus and stock option plan. Dependent on the position offered, sign-on payments, relocation, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits.

CAD Compensation Range: $209,300-313,800 CAD

Job ID: 102403