Autonomous Vehicle Embedded Engineer

Foundation; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Foundation is building the autonomous, crewless ATV for all-terrain use, designed for commercial and defense work to save lives.

We welcome extraordinary engineers and scientists; robotics experience is not prerequisite—talent and determination matter.

Lead bring-up of embedded compute platforms, develop drivers, and integrate sensors as the vehicle moves from bench to prototype.

Qualifications

• 4-5 years of embedded systems development in vehicles or robotics.
• Strong C/C++ and Python skills; experience with Linux (Yocto, Ubuntu Core).
• Experience integrating third-party SDKs for sensors or compute.
• Knowledge of vehicle/robotics comms stacks (CAN, DDS, ROS2).
• Comfort across hardware/software boundaries in bench and integration settings.
• Experience with Git, CI/CD, and modern embedded dev workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead bring-up of embedded compute platforms (MCUs, VCU, SBCs running Linux).
• Set up operating systems, toolchains, and integrated development kits (IDKs) for major components.
• Develop low-level drivers and middleware to interface with sensors, actuators, and vehicle subsystems.
• Own integration of sensor SDKs and communication protocols (CAN, Ethernet, serial).
• Build test harnesses and simulation tools for bench testing prior to vehicle integration.
• Work closely with Perception/Planning engineers to provide stable, performant interfaces to hardware.
• Support system bring-up during vehicle assembly; debug software-hardware integration issues.
• Contribute to safety-critical software practices (fault handling, watchdogs, power management).

Skills

C/C++

Python

Linux

Yocto/Ubuntu Core

Embedded systems

CAN

DDS/ROS2

Git

CI/CD

Education

BS/MS in Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering or related field

Job description

Foundation is building the autonomous, crewless ATV for all-terrain use, designed for commercial and defense work to save lives.

We welcome extraordinary engineers and scientists; robotics experience is not prerequisite—talent and determination matter.

Lead bring-up of embedded compute platforms, develop drivers, and integrate sensors as the vehicle moves from bench to prototype.