Head of Autonomous Navigation & Verification

Overland AI Inc; Seattle, Northern (WA, KY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

401(k) with company match

Healthcare plans

Flexible PTO

Parental leave

Job summary

Overland AI Inc. seeks a Director to lead the Behaviors & Planning team, owning the autonomy loop for single-vehicle navigation and verification. You will manage 7–10 engineers across planning, on-vehicle behaviors, geospatial planning, and offline verification.

Collaborate with ML & Perception to tighten integration and drive end-to-end learned planning approaches. The role requires a PhD in robotics or related field, 5+ years in autonomy software, and proven leadership.

Qualifications

• PhD in robotics, computer science, controls, or closely related field.
• 5+ years of professional experience beyond the PhD shipping autonomy software.
• 2+ years leading an engineering team with technical direction and delivery of complex systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of 7–10 engineers across planning, behaviors and verification.
• Own the autonomy loop: local/global planning, behavior management, and safety across design domains.
• Partner with ML & Perception to integrate terrain models with planning.
• Own offline verification via simulation, log playback and regression testing.
• Push frontier with emerging capabilities and ensure field deployments and demonstrations.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Autonomy software

Cross-team collaboration

Clear technical communication

Safety and verification mindset

ROS2 familiarity

Education

PhD in robotics or related field

Tools

ROS2

Autonomy frameworks

Job description

Overland AI Inc. seeks a Director to lead the Behaviors & Planning team, owning the autonomy loop for single-vehicle navigation and verification. You will manage 7–10 engineers across planning, on-vehicle behaviors, geospatial planning, and offline verification.

Collaborate with ML & Perception to tighten integration and drive end-to-end learned planning approaches. The role requires a PhD in robotics or related field, 5+ years in autonomy software, and proven leadership.