Senior Controls Engineer - Autonomous Driving (L4) Production

Kindredventures; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 193,930 - 352,290; Full time

Job summary

Nuro is seeking a Senior/Staff Controls Engineer to design and deploy production controls software powering L4 autonomous driving across diverse environments. The role bridges upstream autonomy with the physical vehicle platform and requires safety-focused implementation for real-world deployments.

You will work with autonomy, hardware, and systems teams to solve complex problems, advancing control strategies and validating them on real vehicles globally.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in mechanical, electrical, aerospace, robotics, or related field.
• 5+ years of industry experience, including 3+ years on L2+ or higher automated driving controls software at scale.
• Deep knowledge of vehicle dynamics, controls theory, and control strategy development and testing.
• Implementation experience with classical and modern controls methods and/or ML for Controls.
• Strong embedded C (preferred) or C++ programming skills.
• Strong foundation in math (geometry, calculus, probability) and physics (kinematics, dynamics).
• Comfortable with GenAI-assisted workflows (e.g. Claude Code, Gemini, Cursor).
• Proven ability to collaborate across teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop production-level control software following safety standards (ISO 26262).
• Develop interactions between planner and controller and advanced control strategies for expanded ODD from parking lots to highways.
• Integrate controls stack with new vehicle platforms.
• Explore ML for vehicle dynamics and controls to improve performance and bringups.
• Collaborate with engineers across hardware, software, autonomy, testing and system teams.

Skills

Embedded C/C++

Vehicle dynamics

Controls theory

Math & physics

ML for controls

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Self-starter

Education

MS or PhD in relevant field

Job description

Nuro is seeking a Senior/Staff Controls Engineer to design and deploy production controls software powering L4 autonomous driving across diverse environments. The role bridges upstream autonomy with the physical vehicle platform and requires safety-focused implementation for real-world deployments.

You will work with autonomy, hardware, and systems teams to solve complex problems, advancing control strategies and validating them on real vehicles globally.