Senior Engineer - Perception Modeling

motional; United States; On-site; USD 172,000 - 229,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401k with company match

Health Savings Account

Life insurance

Pet insurance

Job summary

Motional is seeking engineers on the Perception team to advance self-driving technology and create social impact. You will lead architecture and development of perception systems, including foundation models, synthetic data, and sensor simulation.

You will mentor engineers, collaborate with ML researchers, and deploy solutions to fleets of autonomous vehicles. The role requires strong background in ML/CS/robotics, experience with TensorFlow or PyTorch, Python proficiency, and solid software

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in ML, CS, Robotics, or a related field.
• Advanced degree or equivalent industry experience.
• Strong knowledge of ML/DL algorithms.
• Experience with designing, training, and analyzing neural networks (object detection, segmentation, classification, motion recognition, sensor fusion, multitask learning, multi-object tracking, or end-to-end perception).
• Experience with TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Fluency in Python and scientific computing libraries.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals (design, SCM, build, code reviews, testing).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Experience mentoring and leading others.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and development of perception systems, focusing on multi-modal foundation models and knowledge generalization across vehicle generations.
• Architect and scale synthetic data generation and sensor simulation for long-tail edge cases and unseen scenarios.
• Transfer knowledge from large teacher models to efficient onboard perception models via distillation and post-training techniques.
• Productionize and deploy solutions onto autonomous vehicle fleets.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to senior and mid-level engineers.

Skills

Machine Learning

Computer Science

Robotics

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Software Engineering

Interpersonal skills

Mentoring

Education

Master's or PhD in ML/CS/Robotics/Applied Mathematics/Statistics/Physics

Job description

On our Perception team, you have the opportunity to work with world-class ML engineers and research scientists, whose mission is to make self-driving vehicles a reality and to create a positive social impact. Our team works on the tech stack responsible for perceiving the dynamic scenarios, and further tracking and classifying objects around our robo-taxi. We are looking for engineers who are passionate about Level 4 autonomous driving technology, excited by intellectual challenges, and interested in pursuing career growth with a fast-growing company.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Lead the architecture and development of advanced perception systems, focusing on, large-scale multi-modal foundation models, and robust knowledge generalization across vehicle generations
• Architect and scale synthetic data generation and sensor simulation capabilities to tackle long-tail edge cases, unseen off-log scenarios, and closed-loop evaluation
• Drive knowledge transfer from large teacher/foundation models to efficient onboard real-time perception models via advanced distillation and post-training techniques
• Productionize and deploy solutions onto autonomous vehicle fleets
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to senior and mid-level engineers on the team

What We're Looking For:

• 3+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field
• Masters or Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or a related field; or equivalent industry experience
• In-depth understanding of common Machine Learning and Deep Learning algorithms
• Experience with designing, training, and analyzing neural networks for at least one of the following applications: object detection, semantic/instance segmentation, visual classification, motion/gesture recognition, sensor fusion, multitask learning, multi-object tracking, and/or end-to-end perception
• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch
• Fluency in Python, including standard scientific computing libraries and Python bindings development experience
• Advanced knowledge of software engineering principles including software design, source control management, build processes, code reviews, testing methods
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience mentoring and leading others

Preferred, but not required:

• Proven track record in designing, training, or fine-tuning Foundation Models (e.g., Vision-Language Models, Multimodal Transformers) for autonomous driving or robotic perception
• Deep expertise in World Models, generative video/lidar prediction, scene synthesis, and sensor simulation for closed-loop evaluation
• Strong experience with Knowledge Distillation and model compression techniques to transfer capability from large offline teacher models to lightweight edge deployments
• Demonstrated experience with Synthetic Data Generation (SDG) and multi-modal automated labeling systems to scale training data quality and volume
• Publications in premier computer vision or machine learning conferences (e.g., CVPR, ICML, NeurIPS, ICCV, ECCV)

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional's benefits program. Motional's benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range

$172,000 - $229,000 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We're driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We're creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it's not only good for our busin