Lead Software Engineer - Robotics & Autonomy

AV; Simi Valley (CA); On-site; USD 147,000 - 224,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Holiday shutdown

Job summary

AV is seeking a Principal Software Engineer in California to lead software for autonomous robotic platforms and the Kinesis ecosystem. You will own architecture, drive cross-team decisions, and hands-on build for hardware-integrated systems. Expect collaboration with industry partners and ongoing product improvement.

The role emphasizes ownership, fast delivery, and mentoring while working with hardware and AI tooling to improve code quality and productivity. Occasional travel is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field with 12+ years of experience.
• Strong modern C++ fluency and modular system design.
• Experience translating design tradeoffs into clear system requirements.
• Hands-on with CMake build systems; software for hardware-integrated systems.
• Knowledge of networks, safety-critical software, and real-time concepts.
• Ability to engage with customers and lead teams.
• Willingness to travel locally; DoD clearance potential.

Responsibilities

• Develop software for AV's vision-based navigation and autonomy roadmap.
• Drive technical direction across the Kinesis ecosystem.
• Design and implement C++/Kotlin cross-platform systems.
• Develop Android, Linux, and Windows apps to control robots.
• Design SDK interfaces for internal and external integrations.
• Serve as technical lead for customer programs and field tests.
• Deliver features on time per project plans and budgets.
• Mentor engineers and guide team activities.
• Collaborate with multiple software teams to reuse components.
• Participate in hands-on testing and field validation of features.

Skills

Modern C++

Software architecture

Modular design

Customer engagement

Mentoring

AI tooling for productivity

Leadership

Hands-on hardware

Field testing

Team mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Math, or Physics

Tools

CMake

Docker

Gitlab

gRPC

MQTT

FastDDS

Job description

AV is seeking a Principal Software Engineer in California to lead software for autonomous robotic platforms and the Kinesis ecosystem. You will own architecture, drive cross-team decisions, and hands-on build for hardware-integrated systems. Expect collaboration with industry partners and ongoing product improvement.

The role emphasizes ownership, fast delivery, and mentoring while working with hardware and AI tooling to improve code quality and productivity. Occasional travel is required.