Senior Software Engineer (Planning)

Oxa; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid/flexible remote working

Company share programme

Private healthcare

Life assurance

Critical illness cover

Income protection

Health cash plan + gym discounts

Salary exchange pension

25 days annual leave

Pet-friendly office

Accessible spaces

Job summary

Oxa is seeking a Senior Software Engineer in Decision Making to design, implement, test and deploy routing and behaviour planning algorithms for autonomous vehicles. You will own the Route Planner, integrate with Trajectory Planning, and develop multi‑hypothesis reasoning to handle imperfect information and dynamic environments.

Join our Planning Team in Oxford, contributing across design, implementation, testing, and deployment, while mentoring teammates and helping scale the team in a

Qualifications

• PhD in Mech Eng, Aerospace, CS, Robotics or Mechatronics is desirable.
• MS in related field with extensive experience is desirable.
• Experience with Behaviour Planning, Decision Making and Trajectory Planning, preferably in self-driving.
• Strong understanding of robotics architectures and geometry/transformations.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in development, integration, and deployment of AV routing/behaviour planning algorithms.
• Own the Route Planner and align with Trajectory Planning for higher-level objectives.
• Develop a planner engine using multi-hypothesis predictions.
• Create metrics to measure and protect planner features.
• Contribute to lifecycle from design through deployment and maintenance.

Skills

Modern C++

Trajectory Planning

Decision Making

Behaviour Planning

Robotics Fundamentals

Machine Learning

Leadership

STL

Testing Frameworks

Software Deployment

Education

PhD in related field

MS in related field

Tools

STL

Testing Frameworks

Job description

Founded in 2014, Oxa is a global leader in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, dedicated to accelerating Industrial Mobile Autonomy (IMA).

We develop advanced physical AI and robotics technology, anchored around our configurable and explainable self-driving software, Oxa Driver; development toolchain, Oxa Foundry; and fleet management software, Oxa Hub. We utilise hardware blueprints known as Reference Autonomy Designs (RADs) to enable the integration of sensors, compute and drive‑by‑wire systems into existing vehicles produced by OEMs.

Our solutions automate repetitive industrial driving tasks, such as the towing and carrying of goods in locations like ports, airports and manufacturing facilities, or asset and perimeter monitoring in environments such as solar farms or industrial plants. We’re helping global businesses to address critical challenges like labour shortages and rising operational costs - driving efficiency, productivity, and safety.

Based in Oxford, and with offices in Canada, our engineering team is drawn from the world’s top physical AI specialists and led by originators of the field.

Your Team:

You will join our Planning Team, where we design, implement, test and deploy the Engine that drives the behaviour of Oxa’s Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), based on our understanding of our environment.

Your Role:

As a Senior Software Engineer in Decision Making, you will be responsible for designing, implementing, testing, and deploying algorithms that realise the desired behaviours that the AV needs to exhibit in any particular scenario. Specifically, this role will focus on route/behavior planning with imperfect information of other actors and the environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in the development, integration, and deployment of algorithms that enable AVs to navigate complex on‑road environments. You will be a key contributor working closely with your team lead and shaping the development of the Oxa Driver.
• Take ownership of the Route Planner to incorporate longer‑term and higher‑level mission objectives in collaboration with Trajectory Planning and Hub team
• Develop the Engine that reasons over discrete actions and interactions with other actors, based on multi‑hypothesis predictions
• Create appropriate metrics and tools to measure and protect existing and newly developed planner features
• Contribute significantly to the engineering lifecycle, including scoping, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance of your team's work.
• Contribute to the exploration and incorporation of automatic coding systems to existing developer workflows.
• Document and train others on your team's work, focus on improving features, and understand the business and customer value of your team's work.
• Contribute to hiring and onboarding at scale by defining role responsibilities and requirements, leading interviews, engaging in recruiting outreach for your team, and mentoring and developing new team members.

What you need to succeed:

• PhD in related field (Mech Eng, Aerospace, Comp Science, Robotics, Mechatronics) with additional professional experience is desired
• MS in related field (Mech Eng, Aerospace, Comp Science, Robotics, Mechatronics) with extensive professional experience
• Practical experience with Behaviour Planning, Decision Making and Trajectory Planning, preferably in Self Driving
• A deep understanding of Robotics Fundamentals, including:
• Robotics architectures
• 2D/3D Geometry & transformations
• Mechanics, kinematics, and dynamics
• Probabilistic reasoning and uncertainty representation
• Exposure to automated decision making (e.g., voting schemes, lexicographical ordering, etc).
• A proven track record of independent development and delivery
• Modern C++ algorithm development and deployment in a production environment (including STL and common testing frameworks)
• Understanding of trajectory optimisation techniques
• Technical leadership and people leadership / management experience
• Experience with Machine Learning
• Exposure to safety certification standards and processes
• Proven agility in fast‑changing environments. As a scale‑up, we’re constantly evolving so our people need to evolve too for us to succeed together.
• A customer‑centric outlook. Chances are you won’t be directly customer facing, but we value people who anticipate and prioritise the needs of our customers. We call it ‘inventing on their behalf.’
• Competitive salary, benchmarked against the market and reviewed annually
• Company share programme
• Hybrid and/or flexible remote working arrangements
• Core benefits of market leading private healthcare, life assurance, critical illness cover, income protection, alongside a company paid health cash plan (including gym discounts)
• A salary exchange pension plan
• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
• A pet‑friendly office environment
• Safe assigned spaces for team members with individual and diverse needs

Our Culture:

We are on a mission to unlock the benefits of self‑driving technology to every person and organisation on the planet. We are creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work which, put simply, is the right thing to do. We hire and nurture those we can learn from, valuing diversity and the innovation that this drives.

We promote an open and inclusive culture that empowers our Oxbots to bring their whole, authentic selves to work every day.

Why become an Oxbot?

Our team of experts in computer science, AI, robotics and machine learning is world‑class, and together they’re solving the most exciting and important technological challenges of our times.

Our diverse, multi‑cultural crew is guided by a shared vision to bring the myriad benefits of autonomy to our customers and partners. And in a company that celebrates uniqueness as much as skill and experience, we do it with energy, conviction and a healthy dose of excitement, too.

If you are bold, creative and hyper skilled, come and create the future of autonomy with us at Oxa.