Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Core Frameworks

torcrobotics; Ann Arbor (MI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Torc is seeking a Senior Autonomy Core Frameworks Software Engineer to shape the architecture of our autonomous driving stack. You will own core frameworks, drive real-time C++ patterns, and collaborate with Behavior and Perception teams to deliver scalable, reliable software.

You will mentor engineers, set engineering standards, and contribute to testing, observability, and production readiness. A strong background in distributed systems and robotics middleware (ROS 2) is valued.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s in CS/Robotics/EE with 8+ years in software engineering.
• Master's degree with 6+ years in complex production software.
• Strong C++17 and modern C++ standards experience.
• Proven ownership of architectural decisions in production systems.
• Experience with testing, CI/CD, and build systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, implementation, and evolution of core frameworks for Torc's autonomous driving stack.
• Drive real-time C++ architectural components for reliable data flow and observability.
• Establish scalable architectural patterns while guiding long-term design decisions.
• Collaborate with Behavior and Perception teams to maintain clean integration boundaries.
• Lead architecture reviews and code reviews, raising engineering standards across the platform.
• Mentor engineers through technical guidance and day-to-day collaboration.
• Champion quality with validation, testing strategies, and production readiness practices.
• Contribute to root cause analysis and platform-level improvements for reliability.
• Define and evolve simulation frameworks for rigorous testing across scenarios.
• Evaluate new architectural patterns and systems research for future capabilities.
• Communicate complex concepts and build consensus on platform direction.

Skills

C++17

Architecture design

Real-time systems

Python scripting

Distributed systems

Code reviews

Mentoring

Testable software

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Robotics/EE

Master's degree

Tools

ROS 2

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, or
• Master's degree with 6+ years of professional experience, or
• 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, st