Senior Motion Planning Engineer: Trajectory Optimization

Motional; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); Hybrid; USD 205,000 - 272,500; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

Motional is seeking a lead engineer on the Motion team to architect and advance motion planning, trajectory optimization, and production-ready autonomous vehicle software. You will own critical algorithms and guide cross-functional teams to deliver safe, comfortable robotaxi behavior.

The role requires 5+ years in production C++ for real-time or safety-critical systems, with strong MPC, planning under uncertainty, and embedded optimization experience.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of production-grade C++ experience in real-time or safety-critical apps.
• Degree in Robotics, CS, CE, EE or related field.
• Proven ownership of large-scale technical development initiatives from problem to on-vehicle production.
• Expertise in MPC, motion planning architectures, planning under uncertainty, and vehicle dynamics/control.
• Strong knowledge of non-linear and numerical optimization methods.
• Experience deploying and optimizing solvers in real-time embedded environments.
• Bonus: Python for simulation and rapid prototyping.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic technical leadership for motion planning and trajectory optimization.
• Lead cross-functional design with planning, prediction, and control teams.
• Draft and drive long-term technical roadmaps for safety-critical subsystems.
• Mentor engineers and foster a product-focused, rigorous research culture.

Skills

C++ development

Real-time systems

Low-latency software

Safety-critical engineering

Python (bonus)

Education

Bachelor's/Master's/PhD in Robotics/CS/CE/EE

Tools

IPOPT

Gurobi

OSQP

CasADi

Job description

Motional is seeking a lead engineer on the Motion team to architect and advance motion planning, trajectory optimization, and production-ready autonomous vehicle software. You will own critical algorithms and guide cross-functional teams to deliver safe, comfortable robotaxi behavior.

The role requires 5+ years in production C++ for real-time or safety-critical systems, with strong MPC, planning under uncertainty, and embedded optimization experience.