Senior Autonomy Safety Engineer

Kodiak AI; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity and annual bonuses

Medical, Dental, Vision plans

401(k) with company match

Flexible PTO and holidays

Dog-friendly office in Mountain View

Free catered lunch and snacks

Free EV charging

Job summary

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. in Mountain View, CA, seeks an Autonomy Safety Engineer to own critical safety elements of our autonomous trucking platform. You will write C++ to explore failure spaces, perform hazard analyses, and drive the safety case in collaboration with Autonomy Software teams.

We expect a strong background in kinematics, statistics, and safety standards. Join a small, high-impact team delivering safe, scalable autonomy across simulation, track, and on-road testing.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in engineering, mathematics, statistics, or related technical field.
• Deep understanding of kinematics, dynamics, and system modeling.
• Strong foundation in probability and statistics.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and/or Python.
• Hands-on work across one or more: sensor fusion, ML methods, CV, motion planning, or control.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, particularly on technical topics.
• Safety analysis methodologies: FTA, FMEA, HARA.
• Safety-critical standards: ISO 26262, DO-178, IEC 61508, SOTIF, UL 4600.

Responsibilities

• Write C++ to search high-dimensional failure spaces at scale.
• Develop requirements for safe perception, localization, prediction, motion planning, and control.
• Identify failure modes and edge cases before on-road exposure.
• Perform hazard analyses, risk assessments, and fault tree analyses.
• Support testing campaigns across simulation, track, on-road, and hardware-in-the-loop.
• Drive safety thinking cross-functionally across teams.

Skills

C++

Python

Kinematics

Dynamics

Statistics

Sensor fusion

Object tracking

Machine learning

Computer vision

Motion planning

Control systems

Safety analysis

FT A / FMEA

HARA

ISO 26262

Education

MS or Ph.D. in engineering, mathematics, statistics, or related field

Tools

Kalman filtering

Particle filters

Least squares estimation

Job description

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. in Mountain View, CA, seeks an Autonomy Safety Engineer to own critical safety elements of our autonomous trucking platform. You will write C++ to explore failure spaces, perform hazard analyses, and drive the safety case in collaboration with Autonomy Software teams.

We expect a strong background in kinematics, statistics, and safety standards. Join a small, high-impact team delivering safe, scalable autonomy across simulation, track, and on-road testing.