Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Actions Sustaining

Motional; United States; Hybrid; USD 172,000 - 229,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with match

Health savings account

Life insurance

Pet insurance

Hybrid schedule

Fully remote option

Job summary

Motional is seeking a senior software engineer to build developer-facing tooling for the autonomous driving stack. The role focuses on parameter overrides, local reruns, behavior step-through, and root-cause analysis using C++ and Python.

Responsibilities include creating local/cloud execution runners, GUI debuggers, and visualizers for logged data. Collaborative, high-impact work in a hybrid/remote setup based in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 5+ years of software development and testing experience.
• Proficiency in C++ for high-performance systems.
• Experience navigating large codebases with good documentation.
• Passion for driverless future and safety-critical software.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop C++ tooling for local and cloud-based execution of autonomy stack.
• Build GUI debuggers and 2D/3D visualizers for logged perception, prediction, and planning frames.
• Create tooling to modify configurations and rerun logs to observe behavior changes.
• Collaborate with planning and controls engineers to define simulation requirements.
• Improve tool performance and reliability.

Skills

C++

Python

Debugging

Software testing

High-performance systems

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Qt development

Job description

Role overview

This is a senior software engineering role on a Planning, Motion, and Controls team building simulation and analysis tools that accelerate development of an autonomous driving stack. The position focuses on developer-facing tooling for parameter overrides, local reruns, behavior step-through, and root cause analysis that turns logged autonomy runs into actionable insight. It is a hybrid or fully remote opportunity based in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop efficient, user-friendly tools using C++ for native tool development and high-performance bindings with the autonomous driving stack, plus Python for scripting and backend tooling
• Build local and cloud-based execution runners that let engineers modify configuration files and parameters, edit code, and rerun the autonomy stack against recorded logs to observe behavioral changes instantly
• Build GUI debuggers and web-based or native 2D and 3D visualizers that ingest logged perception, prediction, and planning frames for pause, frame-by-frame stepping, and decision logic inspection
• Collaborate with planning and controls engineers to understand requirements for simulation and analysis tooling
• Continuously improve and optimize tool performance and functionality
• Listen to autonomy engineers' pain points and deliver robust solutions that advance the autonomy stack

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field
• 5+ years of software development and testing experience, preferably in the automotive or gaming industry
• Strong proficiency in C++ focused on building high-performance and resilient systems
• Comfort navigating and contributing to large, complex codebases where modularity and documentation matter
• Passion for a driverless future and appreciation for the high stakes of deploying software that interacts with the physical world

Nice to have

• Experience with game engine development
• Experience with planning and control systems
• Experience with performance optimization on high-throughput data|li>
• Experience with Qt development

Benefits and work setup

• Base salary range of $172,000 to $229,000 USD, with potential bonus or equity participation
• Hybrid schedule with in-office time in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas, or fully remote
• Benefits program includes medical, dental, vision, 401k with company match, health savings accounts, life insurance, and pet insurance