Senior Software Engineer, Longitudinal Planning – Autonomous Vehicles

Roboticsconnected; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA is seeking a hands-on Senior Software Engineer to advance longitudinal planning for production autonomous vehicles. You will design and optimize speed and trajectory planning, and collaborate with global teams across L2–L4 programs to ensure safety, performance, and release readiness.

You'll apply strong C++ and Python skills, model-based concepts, and validation tooling to tune algorithms for diverse vehicle platforms, powertrains, and OEM requirements. Travel as needed.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of autonomous driving, ADAS, or robotics software development experience.
• Strong knowledge of speed planning, trajectory planning, vehicle dynamics, and numerical optimization.
• Production software development, simulation, log analysis, on-vehicle debugging, and parameter tuning.
• Solid English communication skills and collaborative work style.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and optimize longitudinal planning algorithms for car following, stopping, yielding, merging, cut-ins, intersections, and other complex driving scenarios.
• Develop and improve speed generation, speed adaptation, yield planning, and trajectory planning.
• Improve driving safety, comfort, efficiency, and robustness across different traffic conditions and vehicle platforms.
• Adapt algorithms and tune parameters for different vehicle dynamics, powertrains, braking systems, actuator delays, and OEM requirements.
• Analyze, triage, and resolve complex Planning & Control issues across multiple autonomous driving programs from L2 through L4.
• Perform root-cause analysis using simulation, replay tools, vehicle logs, and on-vehicle diagnostics, and provide clear resolution proposals.
• Conduct on-vehicle testing and performance tuning to validate driving behavior in real-world scenarios.
• Collaborate with global teams and OEM partners on software integration, validation, and release readiness.
• Travel domestically and internationally for vehicle testing and customer collaboration as needed.

Skills

Autonomous driving

C++

Python

Robotics software

English communication

Education

BS/MS in CS/EE/Robotics

Job description

NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself over two decades. Our invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the next era of computing — with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world.

The NVIDIA China Autonomous Driving Team is looking for a hands‑on senior software engineer to develop and improve longitudinal planning for production autonomous vehicles. You will work on key planning capabilities, including speed generation, speed adaptation, yield planning, and trajectory planning (TP). You will also perform deep issue analysis and support multiple production programs and vehicle platforms.

What you’ll be doing:

• Design, develop, and optimize longitudinal planning algorithms for car following, stopping, yielding, merging, cut‑in handling, intersections, and other complex driving scenarios

• Develop and improve speed generation, speed adaptation, yield planning, and trajectory planning

• Improve driving safety, comfort, efficiency, and robustness across different traffic conditions, road environments, and vehicle platforms

• Adapt algorithms and tune parameters for different vehicle dynamics, powertrains, braking systems, actuator delays, and OEM requirements

• Analyze, triage, and resolve complex Planning & Control issues across multiple autonomous driving programs from L2 through L4

• Perform root‑cause analysis using simulation, replay tools, vehicle logs, and on‑vehicle diagnostics, and provide clear resolution proposals

• Conduct on‑vehicle testing and performance tuning to validate driving behavior in real‑world scenarios

• Collaborate with global teams and OEM partners on software integration, validation, and release readiness

• Travel domestically and internationally for vehicle testing and customer collaboration as needed

What we need to see:

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Vehicle Engineering, or a related field

• 3+ years of autonomous driving, ADAS, or robotics software development experience, with strong C++ and Python skills

• Solid knowledge of speed planning, trajectory planning, vehicle dynamics, motion prediction, or numerical optimization

• Experience with production software development, simulation, log analysis, on‑vehicle debugging, and parameter tuning

• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and English communication skills

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

• Production experience developing longitudinal planning algorithms

• Expertise in speed‑profile optimization, space‑time planning, model predictive control, or constrained numerical optimization

• Experience handling interactive scenarios such as yielding, merging, cut‑ins, intersections, and vulnerable road users

• Knowledge of functional safety or autonomous driving validation standards

• Familiarity with NVIDIA DriveOS, NVIDIA DRIVE AV, or direct OEM collaboration