Principal Engineer - Vehicle Compute & Networking Lead

Xander Talent; California; On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Xander Talent is seeking a Staff / Principal Engineer to architect and lead the vehicle compute and networking stack, bridging autonomy software and hardware. You will own the technical roadmap for health monitoring and fleet performance optimization, set engineering standards, and provide deep technical oversight across software, hardware, and systems teams.

This is a hands-on leadership role, where you will code and mentor while driving architectural decisions that scale across the fleet, from

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering at hardware/software interface.
• Expert-level C++ for high-performance Linux systems.
• 5+ years of system-level development: Linux networking stacks and hardware bring-up.
• Deep command of networking protocols across the stack (CAN, UDP, TCP) and high-level (gRPC, RTP, HTTP).
• Demonstrated cross-functional leadership across software, hardware, and systems teams.
• Strong systems-debugging instincts from application code to kernel, driver, and hardware behavior.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead the design of the vehicle compute and networking stack, ensuring a modular, scalable interface between autonomy software and hardware platforms.
• Drive the technical roadmap for hardware health monitoring and fleet-wide performance optimization.
• Lead cross-functional integration of new sensors and embedded devices, and define standards for low-latency data interfaces.
• Establish engineering standards for Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing and automated performance profiling.
• Provide technical oversight on complex system-level issues spanning Linux kernel tuning, high-performance C++, and multi-layer networking (OSI 1–4).
• Define the architecture for on-target diagnostics and self-test across ECUs, with standards for triggers, monitoring, and reporting.
• Establish standards for CAN and Ethernet health and error monitoring with fleet-level logging and reporting.
• Mentor senior engineers and raise the technical bar for design, code quality, and system reliability across teams.

Skills

C++ high-performance

Linux systems

Networking protocols

System architecture

Leadership

Code optimization

Tools

CAN

Ethernet

gRPC

HTTP

Job description

Xander Talent is seeking a Staff / Principal Engineer to architect and lead the vehicle compute and networking stack, bridging autonomy software and hardware. You will own the technical roadmap for health monitoring and fleet performance optimization, set engineering standards, and provide deep technical oversight across software, hardware, and systems teams.

This is a hands-on leadership role, where you will code and mentor while driving architectural decisions that scale across the fleet, from