Lead Autonomy Simulation Architect

Grid Dynamics; Kraków; On-site; PLN 240,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Sports

Flexible schedule

Well-equipped office

Professional development

Corporate events

Job summary

Grid Dynamics in Kraków seeks a Lead Simulation & Autonomy Systems Architect to own the simulation strategy for autonomy development and validation, and to lead the architecture for fault detection, safe state achievement, and degraded modes on customer-site machines.

You will code with AI agents, guide a small startup-style team, and contribute to the 2027 program charter, while collaborating with function leads and engineering teams across hardware and software.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in autonomous systems, such as robotaxi, autonomous trucking, mining, agriculture or construction autonomy.
• Hands-on ownership of behavior, planning or control software in a deployed autonomy stack, including proven design of minimum-risk maneuvers, fallback trajectories and degraded modes.
• Integrating simulation into the development and validation loop, with scenarios, sensor models and data contracts between simulation and the autonomy stack (NVIDIA Isaac Sim, CARLA or equivalent).
• FMEA, hazard analysis and close work with functional safety teams (ISO 26262, ISO 21448 SOTIF or similar).
• Understanding of vehicle and powertrain dynamics, including braking and traction limits under load, on slopes and in rough terrain.
• Software architecture and hardware/software integration for real-time systems on embedded compute.
• Still writes code in C++ and Python, and is comfortable working through AI coding agents.

Responsibilities

• Simulation Strategy: Own how simulation feeds autonomy development and validation, including scenario coverage, how real and simulated data are combined, and validation of degraded modes and safety scenarios in simulation.
• Failure Analysis & Safety Case: Lead FMEA and fault-tree analysis across perception, planning, control and hardware from day one, map each failure to a detection mechanism and a safe response, and work with safety engineering on a safety case covering acceptable event rates for the fleet and the signals that demonstrate due diligence.
• Degraded Modes & Reactive Safety: Design health monitors, run levels, fail-operational versus fail-safe behavior, minimum-risk conditions and fallback paths a simpler system can follow, plus fast reactive layers such as collision-imminent braking that doesn’t wait on the full perception pipeline while keeping false positives low.
• Cross-Cutting System Architecture: Define software/hardware integration, interfaces and system-level features beyond any single team, and bridge hardware and software timelines by telling hardware teams which requirements must be fixed now and which can wait.
• Hands-On Code with AI Agents: Write, review and guide code produced with AI coding agents inside guardrails such as automated tests and toolchain checks, and take degraded-mode architecture to implementation and testing on real machines.
• Roadmap & Team Leadership: Lead the simulation workstream’s contribution to the 2027 program charter and roadmap, guide two Simulation & Perception architects, and mentor engineers in a small, fast-moving, startup-style team.

Skills

Autonomous systems

C++

Python

Simulation for Autonomy

Tools

NVIDIA Isaac Sim

CARLA

Job description

Grid Dynamics in Kraków seeks a Lead Simulation & Autonomy Systems Architect to own the simulation strategy for autonomy development and validation, and to lead the architecture for fault detection, safe state achievement, and degraded modes on customer-site machines.

You will code with AI agents, guide a small startup-style team, and contribute to the 2027 program charter, while collaborating with function leads and engineering teams across hardware and software.