Senior Sensor Engineer

Socket.dev; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Humble Robotics is building autonomous, zero-emissions haulers with a strong emphasis on sensor data quality and field performance. You will own the sensor stack from selection to on-vehicle validation, ensuring perception KPIs align with safety and autonomy needs.

You will collaborate with autonomy, software, and hardware teams to improve sensor performance, lead root-cause analyses, and drive repeatable testing and deployment across vehicle platforms.

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field.
• 3+ years hands-on sensor and engineering experience.
• Experience with test automation and data analysis.
• Fluent in Python for automation and data analysis.
• Experience with field of view/coverage analysis on vehicle sensors.
• Experience across camera, lidar, radar, or INS/GNSS.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with autonomy, perception, software and hardware teams.

Responsibilities

• Write and own sensor requirements aligned to autonomy and safety needs.
• Run field of view, coverage, and occlusion studies for a Class 8 tractor-trailer.
• Characterize remote-sensing systems: camera, lidar, radar, microphone, IMU, and GNSS.
• Own sensor commissioning and bring-up including tests and diagnostics.
• Design and build test setups and benches with measurement tools and power hardware.
• Support testing, evaluation, federation, and operation of vehicles and sensors.
• Support data collection, automation, review, and analysis for tests and models.
• Collaborate with Autonomy, Software, and Hardware to translate perception needs into measurable KPIs.
• Lead root cause analysis on sensor issues and feed changes into design.

Skills

Test automation

Python for automation

Cross-functional collaboration

Field of view analysis

Sensor placement analysis

Scripting

Education

BS in Electrical/Mechanical Engineering or Physics

Tools

GMSL

Automotive Ethernet

CAN/CAN FD

PTP

Job description

About Humble Robotics

Working at Humble Robotics means taking on the biggest change in ground transportation in decades. We’re building an autonomous, zero-emissions hauler that dramatically lowers the cost of freight with groundbreaking vision-based AI, designed for today’s global logistics network.

We’re a fast-moving, close-knit team of AV industry veterans and innovative thinkers. We don’t believe culture can be engineered – but when it falls into place, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Progress has never felt so present.

Position Overview

Own and support the sensors on our next-generation autonomous trucks, from selection and characterization through placement, commissioning, and on-vehicle validation. You will define what \"good\" means for every camera, lidar, radar, microphone, and INS on the truck, prove it in the lab and in the field, and be the person Perception and Autonomy come to when sensor data does not look right. Work as a systems, hardware, and data engineer to ensure best information is available to our autonomous system for training, modeling, simulating, and autonomous operation.

Key Responsibilities

• Write and own sensor requirements. Make them testable, tie each one to an autonomy or safety need, and defend the rationale in cross-functional reviews.
• Run field of view, coverage, and occlusion studies for a Class 8 tractor-trailer. Quantify blind zones, cross-modality overlap, and trailer articulation effects, and use that analysis to drive sensor placement decisions.
• Characterize remote-sensing systems, including camera, lidar, radar, microphone, IMU, and GNSS: resolution, SNR, dynamic range, latency and jitter, point density, range and reflectivity, detection and false alarm rates, angular accuracy, bias and drift.
• Own sensor commissioning and bring-up, including procedures, automation, qualification tests, diagnostics, and drive improvements for repeatability and throughput.
• Design and build test setups and test benches. Experience with measurement tools, power supplies, t-slot rail, power distribution, and bracket design preferred.
• Support testing, evaluation, federation, and continued operation of vehicles, sensors, and vehicle platforms.
• Support data collection, automation, review, and analysis for bench and on-vehicle tests, for characterization, failure analysis, reliability estimation, systems analysis, and performance modeling.
• Work directly with Autonomy and Software to turn perception needs into measurable sensor KPIs, and with Hardware on mounts, enclosures, harnessing, power, thermal, and networking.
• Lead root cause analysis on sensor issues from bring-up, DV, and on-vehicle operation, and close the loop into specs and design changes.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related, and 3 or more years of hands-on sensor and engineering experience.
• Test automation, scripting, and data analysis experience.
• Field of view and coverage analysis experience, including geometric modeling of sensor placement on a vehicle or robot.
• Experience with at least two of camera, lidar, radar, or INS/GNSS.
• Strong grasp of the underlying physics: optics and photometry, lidar range equation and reflectivity, radar RCS and antenna patterns, inertial error models and GNSS/INS fusion behavior.
• Proven cross-functional collaboration with autonomy, perception, software, and hardware teams.
• Fluent in Python for test automation and data analysis.
• Comfortable on a vehicle and in the shop
• Experience writing test reports and procedures someone else can execute.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience at an AV, robotaxi, autonomous trucking, or ADAS program at an OEM or Tier 1.
• Commissioned sensor suites across multiple vehicle builds or program phases.
• Took a sensor from evaluation through supplier qualification onto a production vehicle.
• Heavy-duty truck or large articulated platform experience.
• Working knowledge of, GMSL, Automotive Ethernet, CAN/CAN FD, and PTP.
• Sensor modeling or simulation for placement trade studies.
• Exposure to functional safety and SOTIF as applied to sensor performance and degradation.

Compensation

Salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including qualifications, skills, experience, and location. We also offer competitive equity compensation and benefits.

As part of the interview process, we may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to compare your qualifications and experience to the job description. A human reviews all AI output and makes a final hiring decision. Humble Robotics does not rely on the output to make any employment decisions. Some applicants may have a legal right to opt-out of the use of AI as part of our hiring process. Contact [e-mail] to exercise this right or if you have further questions on the use of AI tools in our hiring process.

Humble Robotics is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, marital status or any other characteristics protected by law. Humble Robotics will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in a manner consistent with local ordinances.