Senior Software Engineer - Autonomy Core Frameworks

Doist; Ann Arbor (MI); On-site; USD 161,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, dental, vision

401K with match

Paid vacation

AD&D and Life Insurance

Job summary

Torc is seeking a Senior Autonomy Core Frameworks Software Engineer to lead the architecture of its autonomous driving stack. You will own core frameworks, guide real-time C++ components, and drive architectural decisions with cross-team collaboration.

You will mentor engineers, raise engineering standards, and ensure testing, observability, and production readiness across the platform. This role demands deep technical leadership and a passion for scalable, reliable software.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related technical discipline with 8+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Master's degree with 6+ years of professional experience
• Proven track record designing and evolving complex production software platforms with ownership of architectural decisions
• Deep experience with C++17 and recent standards
• Proficient in Python for scripting and glue tasks
• Experience with autonomous systems/robotics, distributed systems, or complex embedded environments using middleware with pub-sub patterns
• Strong experience with testing, CI, and build systems
• Deep experience with systems-level software design and debt management
• Experience mentoring engineers through technical leadership, architecture reviews, and standards

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, implementation, and evolution of core frameworks for Torc's autonomous driving stack
• Drive the technical direction for real-time C++ components and data flow
• Establish scalable architectural patterns and long-term design decisions
• Collaborate with Behavior and Perception teams to keep integration boundaries clear
• Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and code reviews to raise standards
• Mentor engineers and promote architectural excellence across the org
• Champion validation, testing, observability, and production readiness practices
• Contribute to root-cause analysis and platform-wide improvements
• Define and evolve simulation and validation frameworks for core components
• Evaluate new architectural patterns and research to strengthen the platform
• Communicate vision across teams to build consensus on direction

Skills

Core architecture

C++17

Python scripting

Distributed systems

Mentoring

Code reviews

Architecture reviews

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Robotics/EE

Master's degree

Tools

ROS 2

GitHub Actions

Bazel

Job description

About the Company

At Torc, we have always believed that autonomous vehicle technology will transform how we travel, move freight, and do business. A leader in autonomous driving since 2007, Torc has spent over a decade commercializing our solutions with experienced partners. Now a part of the Daimler family, we are focused solely on developing software for automated trucks to transform how the world moves freight. Join us and catapult your career with the company that helped pioneer autonomous technology, and the first AV software company with the vision to partner directly with a truck manufacturer.

Meet the Team

The Senior Autonomy Core Frameworks Software Engineer plays a critical role in architecting and advancing the foundational frameworks that underpin Torc's autonomous driving stack. This role helps in owning technical direction for the software in core autonomy components, helping to raise the bar on code quality, and driving improvements across the autonomy software. As a senior technical leader, you will collaborate closely with the Behavior and Perception teams within Autonomy to design robust, composable architectural patterns that serve as the foundation for safe, performant, reliable autonomous operation. This position demands deep technical expertise in software architecture and autonomous vehicle fundamentals.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the architecture, design, implementation, and evolution of core frameworks that serve as the foundation for Torc's autonomous driving stack, including state management, inter- component communication, abstraction layers, and common utilities used across all software systems.
• Drive the technical direction for real-time C++ architectural components and patterns responsible for reliable system-wide data flow, component coordination, error handling, and operational observability.
• Establish scalable architectural patterns and abstractions that enable autonomous driving capabilities while driving technical tradeoff discussions and long-term design decisions that shape the entire platform.
• Collaborate across Behavior and Perception teams to keep integration boundaries clean and shared abstractions coherent.
• Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and code reviews while establishing engineering standards that improve reliability, maintainability, testability, and scalability across the platform.
• Mentor software engineers through technical coaching, architectural guidance, and day-to-day collaboration while raising engineering standards and fostering technical excellence across the organization.
• Champion architectural quality through systematic validation, comprehensive testing strategies, observability frameworks, and production readiness practices that ensure platform robustness at scale.
• Contribute to root cause analysis of complex platform-level issues and drive architectural improvements that enhance system reliability, performance, and operational resilience.
• Define and evolve simulation and validation frameworks that enable rigorous testing of core architectural components across diverse operational scenarios and edge cases.
• Evaluate emerging architectural patterns, systems research, and advanced techniques that can strengthen the platform's foundation and enable future autonomous driving capabilities.
• Communicate complex architectural concepts and technical vision effectively across engineering teams, product, and leadership while building consensus around platform direction and technical strategy.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related technical discipline with 8+ years of professional software engineering experience,
• Master's degree with 6+ years of professional experience,
• Demonstrated success designing and evolving complex, production software platforms with ownership of architectural decisions
• Deep experienced with C++17 and recent standards
• Comfortable with using Python to help script and glue systems together
• Experience working across autonomous systems/robotics, distributed systems, or complex embedded environments using middleware with pub-sub communications patterns
• Strong experience with testing, continuous integration, and build systems
• Deep experience with systems-level software design, including experience managing technical debt, refactoring large codebases, and evolving platforms while maintaining stability and performance.
• Experience mentoring engineers through technical leadership, architecture reviews, code reviews, and establishing engineering standards that scale across organizations.
• Strong mastery of software engineering fundamentals including modular/composable architecture, design patterns, concurrency, testing strategies, and long-term maintainability.

Bonus Points

• Experience architecting , maintaining , and using robotics middleware's (E.g., ROS 2 )
• Deep expertise in distributed systems design, including consensus algorithms, state synchronization, event-driven architectures , deterministic replay, etc .
• Familiarity with ISO 26262, SOTIF, ASPICE, or other safety-critical software development standards.
• Experience with Git H ub Actions and Jenkins
• Experience with Bazel and Bazel-based build systems
• Experience designing or building observability, logging, and monitoring systems for complex distributed systems.
• Experience working with simulations for regression testing
• Experience managing versioning and conversion of data schemas at scale

Perks of Being a Full-time Torc’r

Torc cares about our team members and we strive to provide benefits and resources to support their health, work/life balance, and future. Our culture is collaborative, energetic, and team focused. Torc offers:

• A competitive compensation package that includes a bonus component and stock options
• 100% paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for full-time employees
• 401K plan with a 6% employer match
• Flexibility in schedule and generous paid vacation (available immediately after start date)
• AD+D and Life Insurance

At Torc, we’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We celebrate the uniqueness of our Torc’rs and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status, or disabilities.

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications listed for this opportunity, we encourage you to apply.

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Torc's total compensation package will also include our corporate bonus and stock option plan. Dependent on the position offered, sign-on payments, relocation, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits.

Pay range: $160,800 — $193,000 USD