Engineering Manager, Embedded Automotive Platforms

Wayve; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Hybrid working

Learning budget

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Wayve is seeking an Engineering Manager, EAP, to lead a US-based embedded software team responsible for core libraries and APIs across vehicle platforms. The role blends hands-on coding (C++, or Rust) with people leadership, coaching, and delivery planning.

You'll own the team roadmap, align priorities with cross-functional groups across time zones, and ensure safety and quality through ASPICE/MISRA/ISO26262 practices, while staying hands-on in architecture and reviews.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading embedded software teams.
• Hands-on in C/C++ or Rust with systems programming focus.
• Familiarity with ASPICE, MISRA, ISO 26262 or similar.
• Experience delivering safety‑critical automotive software.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a US-based embedded software team.
• Coach engineers and set a high bar for quality.
• Own the team roadmap with clear objectives and delivery plans.
• Align priorities with cross-functional stakeholders across time zones.
• Stay hands-on with architecture, design reviews, and key components.

Skills

Embedded systems

C++

Rust

Leadership

Team management

Tools

Linux

QNX

AUTOSAR

Middleware IPC

NVIDIA DRIVE

Job description

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

About our Engineering Teams

Wayve’s Embedded Automotive Platforms team builds portable, production-grade core libraries and standardized APIs at the boundary between our autonomy stack and real vehicle platforms. Its work enables Wayve software to run reliably across automotive reference platforms and runtime environments, including NVIDIA DRIVE Orin on Linux/QNX and Qualcomm platforms.

As Engineering Manager, EAP, you’ll lead and grow a US-based team responsible for foundational software used across real-world experiments and customer programmes. This is a hands‑off management role: approximately 40% coding and design, and 60% leadership, coaching, and delivery through the team.

Your day-to-day

• Lead, recruit, and grow an embedded-software team in the US.
• Coach engineers, support career development, and set a high bar for engineering quality.
• Own the team roadmap, turning milestones into clear objectives and delivery plans.
• Align priorities with cross‑functional stakeholders and maintain accountability for schedule and quality.
• Stay hands‑on through architecture, design, code review, and implementation of critical components.
• Communicate progress, risks, and technical trade‑offs across teams and time zones.

What you’ll be working on:

• Portable core libraries and SDK‑style APIs for deploying Wayve autonomy software to vehicle compute.
• Reference‑platform adaptation across Linux, QNX, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and other automotive environments.
• Production‑grade platform abstractions that reduce bespoke integration work.
• Safety‑and‑quality‑conscious delivery, including FuSA‑certified core libraries where applicable.
• Technical and organisational foundations that allow the EAP team to scale.
• Reliable software components used by internal teams, OEM programmes, and external partners.

You should apply if:

• You have experience managing and developing software engineers while owning delivery from planning through quality.
• You have a strong embedded-systems engineering background and can remain hands‑on in C++, C, or Rust.
• You have led embedded platform, core‑library, or similar foundational software work.
• You have experience in automotive or another safety‑and‑quality conscious industry.
• You understand disciplined development practices such as ASPICE, MISRA, ISO 26262, or comparable frameworks.
• You communicate clearly and can align stakeholders across functions and locations.

Experience with Linux, QNX, build systems, AUTOSAR Adaptive, middleware/IPC, NVIDIA DRIVE, Qualcomm automotive platforms, or third-party platform delivery would be valuable.

Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.

More about Wayve:

Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work - Locations & Flexible Working:

Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in‑person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

The Interview Process:

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

• Initial recruiter screen — 25 minutes
• Competency interviews — hiring‑manager/leadership and domain interviews (2 hours)
• Deep‑dive interviews — programming, software design, and technical leadership (3 hours)
• Final interview — executive and mission/values alignment (1 hour)

We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.

What’s in it for you (Location dependent):

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve
• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable
• Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

A quick, honest note before you apply.

Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.

If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you. At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.