Senior Deep Reinforcement Learning Engineer - Autonomous Driving

NVIDIA Gruppe; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 224,000 - 357,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA is seeking a Reinforcement Learning Engineer to advance autonomous driving technology. You will build new RL algorithms for decision-making and planning, and develop scalable training pipelines and sim environments to support RL training.

You will collaborate with perception and planning teams to integrate RL models into the autonomous driving stack and benchmark against baselines in urban scenarios. Production deployment on automotive hardware is expected.

Qualifications

• BS or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in the related field.
• Strong background in Reinforcement Learning, including policy gradient methods (PPO, GRPO), actor-critic architectures, on-policy and off-policy RL
• Proficiency in PyTorch or TensorFlow and real experience with RL-related algorithms
• Experience in C++ and Python development for real-time systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a track record of implementing and debugging complex RL systems.

Responsibilities

• Build and implement brand new Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms for autonomous vehicle decision-making and planning.
• Develop and maintain scalable training pipelines and simulation environments for RL training.
• Collaborate with perception and planning teams to integrate RL models into the unified autonomous driving stack.
• Benchmark RL model performance against imitation learning baselines in complex urban environments.
• Optimize and deploy RL models to production-grade automotive hardware.

Skills

Reinforcement Learning

PyTorch

TensorFlow

C++

Python

Education

BS or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It’s a unique legacy of innovation that’s fueled by great technology—and amazing people. Today, we’re tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what’s never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world’s best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you’ll be immersed in a diverse, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.

At NVIDIA, we are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible within self-driving vehicle technology by bringing to bear the power of Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL). As a world leader in AI and high-performance computing, NVIDIA provides an outstanding platform where innovative research meets real-world production. We are looking for a Reinforcement Learning Engineer to join our mission in building intelligent, safe, and efficient self-driving technology that will redefine transportation on a global scale.

What you'll be doing:

• Build and implement brand new Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms for autonomous vehicle decision-making and planning.
• Develop and maintain scalable training pipelines and simulation environments for RL training.
• Collaborate with perception, and planning teams to integrate RL models into the unified autonomous driving stack.
• Benchmark RL model performance against imitation learning baselines in complex urban environments.
• Optimize and deploy RL models to production-grade automotive hardware.

What we need to see:

• BS or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 12+ years of experieence in the related field.
• Solid background in Reinforcement Learning, including policy gradient methods (PPO, GRPO), actor-critic architectures, on-policy and off-policy RL
• Proficiency in PyTorch or TensorFlow and real experience with RL-related algorithm
• Experience in C++ and Python development for real-time systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a track record of implementing and debugging complex RL systems.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

• Background in shipping autonomous driving features or embodied AI.
• Experience with generative models (Flow Matching, Diffusion, or AR-based decoders) in the context of policy representation or trajectory modeling.
• Experience with training policies on their own rollout distributions and handling the compounding error problems inherent in autonomous driving.
• Experience working with large-scale data flywheels, including mining scenarios from fleet telemetry logs, auto-labeling pipelines, and automated performance tracking.

Compensation

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until August 31, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

Inclusion & Equal Opportunity

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.