Engineering Manager - Learned Behaviors & Planning

applied; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 285,000 - 405,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401k with employer match

Learning stipend

Wellness stipend

Paid time off

Job summary

Applied Intuition, Inc. in Sunnyvale is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to bring advanced AI research to production deployment.

This is a hands-on leadership role, balancing architecture reviews, model debugging, and team building to scale state-of-the-art AV planning models for safety-critical environments. You will own the full ML model lifecycle from data curation and training to deployment and monitoring, while evolving the architecture toward an L4 end-to-end stack.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, or related field.
• 3+ years engineering mgmt, tech lead, or senior staff engineer experience.
• 3+ years specialized experience with learned behavior, agent intent prediction, or ML-centric motion planning.
• Proven track record shipping ML models into production on physical hardware.

Responsibilities

• Drive the production roadmap for ML-powered behavior planning systems, replacing or augmenting traditional heuristics with ML models.
• Set technical direction and hiring strategy to build a team capable of operating at the edge of behavior systems.
• Serve as the technical bridge between the Research Group and product engineering by translating experimental models into safety-certified, real-time production systems.
• Own the full model lifecycle from data curation and training through evaluation, deployment, and production monitoring, not just modeling in isolation.
• Evolve the architecture to achieve the final goal of an L4 end-to-end stack.
• Work cross functionally with other teams, including Perception, Simulation, and Vehicle Operations, to ensure the robust and efficient integration of the behavior software stack.
• Identify where research advances can absorb work the product engineering teams don’t have bandwidth for, and productionize those capabilities for them.

Skills

MS/PhD in CS/Robotics/ML

Engineering Mgmt/Tech Lead

ML-centric motion planning

Shipping ML models to production

Education

MS/PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, ML or related field

Job description

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co.

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to bring advanced AI research to production deployment. This is a hands‑on production role focused on iterating, scaling, and deploying state‑of‑the‑art AV planning models into real‑world, safety‑critical environments. This is a working technical leader role, not a pure management track so you’ll stay hands‑on with architecture reviews, model debugging, and critical‑path code when it matters, while also building and scaling your own team.

The mission of the Research Group is to create cutting‑edge technology enabling next‑generation physical AI, with emphasis on the two most challenging applications reshaping everyday life: end‑to‑end autonomous driving and robotics generalist. We have a group composed of leading experts from top institutions and companies, recognized for their exceptional academic and industry contributions, including eight Best Paper awards at premier conferences and journals such as CVPR and ICRA. Learn more at appliedintuition.com/research.

Supported by industry‑leading tools and infra, researchers can access millions of miles of data from large fleets, and deploy methods they develop into various autonomous and robotic systems including self‑driving cars/trucks, autonomous mining/construction machines, humanoid robots and dexterous hands. In addition to your technical contributions, you will contribute to and learn from best practices in the autonomy and robotics industries within our fast‑paced and customer‑focused culture. Improvements deployed to our system immediately help our customers with their programs and deliver value to our business.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Drive the production roadmap for ML‑powered behavior planning systems, replacing or augmenting traditional heuristics with ML models

• Set technical direction and hiring strategy to build a team capable of operating at the edge of behavior systems

• Serve as the technical bridge between the Research Group and product engineering by translating experimental models into safety‑certified, real‑time production systems

• Own the full model lifecycle from data curation and training through evaluation, deployment, and production monitoring, not just modeling in isolation

• Evolve the architecture to achieve the final goal of an L4 end‑to‑end stack

• Work cross functionally with other teams, including Perception, Simulation, and Vehicle Operations, to ensure the robust and efficient integration of the behavior software stack

• Identify where research advances can absorb work the product engineering teams don’t have bandwidth for, and productionize those capabilities for them

We're looking for someone who has:

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, a related quantitative field, or equivalent.

• 3+ years of engineering management or tech lead or senior staff engineer experience leading, mentoring, and hiring high‑performing technical teams.

• 3+ years of specialized experience working directly on learned behavior, agent intent prediction, or ML‑centric motion planning.

• Proven track record of shipping ML models into production, with practical experience navigating the deployment lifecycle of deep learning systems on physical hardware.

Nice to Have:

• Deep technical competence with modern deep learning frameworks and model architectures

• Experience with Reinforcement Learning and reward design for self‑driving or robotics applications

• Peer‑reviewed publications at AI or robotics conferences

• Industry experience in self‑driving or robotics applications

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Applied Intuition pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum intended target base salary for new hire salaries for the position. The actual base salary offered to a successful candidate will additionally be influenced by a variety of factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.

Please reference the job posting’s subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full‑time position in the location listed is: $285,000 - $405,000 USD annually.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request.
If you require an accommodation please contact [e-mail]. We will work with you!