Principle Engineer, 3D Reconstruction

EngineersOfAI; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayve in California is seeking a Principal Engineer, 3D Reconstruction to lead the development of an offline 3D reconstruction capability using vehicle sensor data. The role combines localization, mapping, state estimation, and sensor fusion to produce high‑quality 3D geometry for validation and model development.

You will set technical direction, build early prototypes, and align cross‑functional teams on a shared reconstruction capability, mentoring engineers and driving production-ready

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in SLAM, 3D reconstruction, mapping, and state estimation.
• Hands-on lidar-based reconstruction and real-world sensor data.
• Experience building offline reconstruction or perception systems on large data.
• Strong software engineering skills in C++ and Python.
• Proven ability to take research prototypes into production.
• Ability to define roadmaps and milestones in ambiguous spaces.
• Strong cross-functional technical leadership.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical architecture and roadmap for offline 3D reconstruction.
• Lead MVP development and transition to a robust internal platform.
• Establish core interfaces, outputs, and tools for internal customers.
• Collaborate with calibration, sensor fusion, perception, data, and validation teams.
• Set standards for reconstruction quality, uncertainty, and dataset suitability.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership on the 3D effort.
• Communicate tradeoffs and progress to engineering leaders and stakeholders.

Skills

SLAM & 3D reconstruction

State estimation

Point-cloud processing

Lidar data

Sensor fusion

Robotics software

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

MS/PhD in Robotics or related field

Tools

C++

Python

Job description

About us

Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology. Our advanced AI software and foundation models enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any complex environment, enhancing the usability and safety of automated driving systems.

Our vision is to create autonomy that propels the world forward. Our intelligent, mapless, and hardware-agnostic AI products are designed for automakers, accelerating the transition from assisted to automated driving.
In our fast-paced environment big problems ignite us—we embrace uncertainty, leaning into complex challenges to unlock groundbreaking solutions. We aim high and stay humble in our pursuit of excellence, constantly learning and evolving as we pave the way for a smarter, safer future.

At Wayve, your contributions matter. We value diversity, embrace new perspectives, and foster an inclusive work environment; we back each other to deliver impact.

Make Wayve the experience that defines your career!

The Role

Wayve is looking for a Principal Engineer, 3D Reconstruction to lead the development of an offline 3D reconstruction capability that builds high-quality 3D world geometry from vehicle sensor data in dynamic scenes. The system will draw on localization and mapping, state estimation, and sensor fusion to produce offline 3D geometric reconstructions and best‑estimate ego motion from heterogeneous vehicle platforms and sensor suites. The work will support internal validation, data enrichment, and model development by turning raw sensor data into reliable, quality‑assessed 3D ground‑truth outputs. This is a principal‑level technical leadership role for someone who can set the technical direction, build early prototypes, and align cross‑functional teams around a shared reconstruction capability.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the technical architecture and roadmap for Wayve’s offline 3D reconstruction system.
• Lead the development of MVPs that unblock high‑priority internal use cases, while guiding the transition to a robust internal platform.
• Establish the core technical interfaces, output representations, and tools needed to support internal customers.
• Partner with calibration, sensor fusion, perception, data, infrastructure, and validation teams to align requirements, resources and ownership boundaries.
• Set technical standards for reconstruction quality, failure analysis, uncertainty measurement, and dataset suitability and execute strategies to validate them
• Mentor and provide technical leadership to engineers contributing to the 3D reconstruction effort.
• Communicate technical tradeoffs, limitations, and progress clearly to engineering leaders and cross‑functional stakeholders.

Required Skills/Experience

• Deep technical expertise in SLAM, 3D reconstruction, mapping, state estimation, or closely related robotics/perception fields.
• Strong hands‑on experience with lidar‑based reconstruction, point‑cloud registration, pose estimation, and real‑world robotics sensor data.
• Experience building offline reconstruction, mapping, or perception systems that operate on large volumes of sensor data.
• Strong software engineering skills in C++, Python, or similar robotics/perception environments.
• Experience taking research or prototype algorithms into reliable production systems.
• Comfortable defining technical strategy, roadmaps, and milestones in ambiguous problem spaces
• Strong cross‑functional technical leadership in ambiguous, multi‑team environments.
• Clear communication of algorithmic tradeoffs, limitations, confidence, and failure modes to technical and cross functional stakeholders.
• Systems‑level understanding of sensor calibration, timing, synchronization and quality issues, and ability to define requirements and work with specialist teams to achieve them

Desired Skills/Experience

• MS/PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, State Estimation, Sensor Fusion, SLAM, 3D Reconstruction, or a related technical field; or equivalent practical experience.