Senior Controls Engineer, Autonomous Vehicles

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Bonuses

Medical Plan

Dental Plan

Vision Plan

PTO

Parental Leave

Dog-friendly Office

Free EV charging

401(k)

Job summary

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. is seeking a Controls Software Engineer to join the Motion Planning & Controls team in Mountain View, CA. You will design and implement feedback and control strategies for fully-loaded trucks, develop models for motion planning, and work on redundant and fail-safe control systems.

The role requires a strong foundation in robotics and controls, experience with production-level C/C++, and collaboration across hardware and software teams to ensure safe, reliable operation.

Qualifications

• Strong background in robotics, controls, optimization, and mathematics (MS, PhD, or equivalent experience).
• Developed, tested, and tuned controllers for mobile autonomous robots, ideally trucks, cars, or flying vehicles.
• Performed system identification, modeling, simulation, or other characterization for systems with complex dynamics.
• Strong theoretical foundation paired with practical experience in controls, system modeling, and/or redundant architectures.
• Focus on end-to-end vehicle safety.
• Production-level C/C++ experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement feedback, control, and actuation strategies.
• Architect, develop, and test reliable, redundant, and safety-critical software for autonomous trucks.
• Characterize vehicle platform to develop models for motion planning and controls.
• Work on redundant actuation, degraded operation, and fail-safe control.
• Collaborate with hardware, motion planning, and systems engineering teams to deliver robust control architecture.

Skills

Robotics

Controls theory

Optimization

Mathematics

C/C++

Safe-critical software

Education

MS/PhD in related field

Tools

Python

Matlab/Simulink

RTOS

CAN

Ethernet

Job description

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. is seeking a Controls Software Engineer to join the Motion Planning & Controls team in Mountain View, CA. You will design and implement feedback and control strategies for fully-loaded trucks, develop models for motion planning, and work on redundant and fail-safe control systems.

The role requires a strong foundation in robotics and controls, experience with production-level C/C++, and collaboration across hardware and software teams to ensure safe, reliable operation.