Senior Engineer, AV Behavior Evaluation

Motional; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 149,000 - 198,500; Full time

Job summary

Motional is seeking an Engineer to join the AV Behavior Design and Evaluation Team in Pittsburgh. This role involves developing metrics and analyzing data related to autonomous vehicle performance, ensuring robust evaluation systems.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree with at least 2 years of relevant experience and a strong understanding of autonomous vehicle systems. A hybrid schedule is encouraged, allowing for collaboration in the office or fully remote work options.

The position offers a competitive salary range from $149,000 to $198,500 USD.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience in a relevant field.
• Strong understanding of autonomous vehicle architecture.
• Fluency in SQL or similar languages.

Responsibilities

• Propose behavioral expectations for AV capabilities.
• Support standardization of performance evaluation metrics.
• Deliver strategic insights and recommendations on testing projects.

Skills

Engineering principles

Data analysis

SQL

Data visualization

Python

Interpersonal skills

Communication skills

Autonomous Vehicle knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science

Job description

Mission Summary:

The AV Behavior Design and Evaluation Team is responsible for owning the design and assessment of the AV behavior utilizing the concept of AV behavior competencies. The team relies on systematic decomposition of AV behavior along with data driven assessment utilizing data from on‑road and simulation test modalities. We are responsible for building and operating robust, large‑scale evaluation systems, alongside sophisticated simulation workflows and insightful diagnostic tools. By combining expert human judgment with advanced data driven techniques, we evaluate the system behavior performance.

As the team is looking to scale to support more and more behavioral competencies, we are looking for passionate Engineers to help build a robust framework to leverage the best of agile systems engineering and data driven performance assessment to achieve our ambitious goals in scaling our system design and evaluation processes. We are looking to work with people who are driven to design robust systems and transform complex data into measurable progress toward a safer, smarter transportation future.

This person will get to build relationships with the team as well cross‑functional across organization to help build a cohesive understanding AV performance as applicable to the Behavioral Competencies.

What you'll be doing:

• Propose behavioral expectations on AV capabilities
• Support standardization of metrics used in performance evaluation for AV Capabilities to ensure consistency
• Effectively utilize existing metrics and propose the need for new metrics to evaluate AV performance in large scale simulation testing
• Propose soft/hard targets for metrics using statistical methods and back them up with driving data
• Propose and implement ideas to analyze simulation, resimulation and public road testing results for stakeholders in Systems, Autonomy, Safety etc.
• Deliver strategic insights and recommendations on projects regarding scenario‑based testing
• Build meaningful visualizations and templates for the team to utilize
• Focus on automating result analysis processes and gaps, removing manual processes where applicable
• Support the development, execution, and analyses of test strategy for features validation
• Communicate test results to development teams and management and facilitate resolving of technical issues

What we're looking for:

• Bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science OR equivalent experience in relevant industry
• Strong understanding of Autonomous Vehicle architecture and functions of key subsystems such as perception, planning, prediction etc.
• Experience with analyzing simulation and real world data for robotic systems, preferably autonomous vehicles
• Fluency in SQL or similar languages
• Fluency in data visualization techniques
• Experience in building python based projects for data analysis and insights
• Excellent interpersonal skills to build relationships with other teams
• Excellent communication skills; effective in communicating complex concepts and driving resolutions
• Self‑starter who is motivated to set and achieve goals and takes initiative to drive ambiguous tasks/projects to completion

Bonus Points (not required):

• Masters degree in relevant field
• Experience using simulation tools
• Experience in evaluating Autonomous Driving Behavior using large scale data
• Familiarity with AV Behavior evaluation standards and best practices

We encourage a hybrid schedule with in‑office time in Pittsburgh to support collaboration, or this role can be fully remote.

Salary Range: $149,000 USD - $198,500 USD

Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E‑Verify. All newly‑hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.