Autonomy Application Engineering Lead

Wayve; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary benchmarking against the market

Equity sharing in Wayve’s success

Relocation support & visa sponsorship

Hybrid working model

Learning & development budgets

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Wayve is seeking a founding manager to build and lead a new Application Engineering team in the US, focused on localising and advancing autonomous driving technology for US roads. You’ll shape Wayve’s AV capabilities from the ground up, guiding an engineer team across robotics, ML, and systems integration.

As a founding leader, you’ll recruit, mentor, and drive key autonomy features, collaborating with OEM partners and central teams to deliver safe, scalable solutions in a hybrid US role based

Qualifications

• Strong background in robotics and autonomy with real-world deployment experience.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and grow high-performing engineering teams.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and able to define goals and roadmaps with minimal supervision.
• Broad fluency across software engineering, ML, controls, and systems integration.
• Excellent communication skills across cultures and time zones.
• Strong product sense and stakeholder management, interfacing with OEM customers.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a self-sufficient AV development team in the US, hiring and mentoring top talent across Robotics and ML.
• Deliver autonomy capabilities tailored to road conditions and driving norms, in close collaboration with central Autonomy teams.
• Drive full-cycle development: from identifying local autonomy needs, to designing, implementing, testing, and deploying features into production.
• Ensure the team upholds Wayve’s high engineering standards, while operating with agility and independence.
• Work closely with OEM partners in the US — representing Wayve’s autonomy team in technical discussions, capturing product requirements, and shaping joint development plans.
• Establish close working relationships with our product and vehicle operations teams in the US.

Skills

Robotics and autonomy

Engineering team leadership

Ambiguity tolerance

Software engineering

Machine learning

Controls

Systems integration

Communication

Product sense

Stakeholder management

Job description

Wayve is seeking a founding manager to build and lead a new Application Engineering team in the US, focused on localising and advancing autonomous driving technology for US roads. You’ll shape Wayve’s AV capabilities from the ground up, guiding an engineer team across robotics, ML, and systems integration.

As a founding leader, you’ll recruit, mentor, and drive key autonomy features, collaborating with OEM partners and central teams to deliver safe, scalable solutions in a hybrid US role based