Senior Software Engineer - Motion Planning, Secondary Driving System

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 171,000 - 261,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

HSA/FSA

Retirement plan

Paid vacation

Tuition assistance

Employee discounts

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Senior Software Engineer - Motion Planning, Secondary Driving System to join a leader in the Manufacturing & Automotive space. This role focuses on building and optimizing safety-critical software enabling advanced driving capabilities under real-time constraints. Location: Remote - US based candidates only.

Compensation: $170,600 – $261,300 annually. You will own features from requirements through on-road testing and collaborate with perception, state estimation, and safety

Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or complex real-time/control systems.
• Strong proficiency in modern C++ (C++14/17 or later) and experience with large, multi-contributor codebases; familiarity with Python for tooling and data analysis.
• Experience in motion planning and controls, including trajectory generation, optimal control, and feedback control design.
• Experience integrating with perception and prediction pipelines, even if focus is on planning and controls.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering reliable, high-quality autonomous or robotics software under latency/compute constraints.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across disciplines, including ML, systems, platform, and safety.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize production-grade C++ software across the secondary driving system stack, integrating ML-based perception with analytical planners and classical controllers.
• Design and implement planning and controls algorithms, including lane-keeping and obstacle avoidance.
• Collaborate with state estimation and mapping partners to define interfaces for reliable system engagement during primary stack failures.
• Own features end-to-end, from requirements clarification to on-road testing and iteration based on metrics.
• Champion software engineering best practices, including clean interfaces, code reviews, and automated testing.
• Analyze and debug complex integration issues using logs and telemetry to root-cause problems in perception, planning, and controls.
• Mentor and unblock other engineers through design discussions and code reviews.

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Senior Software Engineer - Motion Planning, Secondary Driving System to join the team of a leader in the Manufacturing & Automotive space.

This role will focus on building and optimizing safety-critical software that enables advanced driving capabilities during challenging operating scenarios. You will work closely with perception, state estimation, mapping, systems, and safety partners to develop reliable planning and control solutions that perform under real-time constraints.

The position offers the opportunity to own features from requirements through on-road testing while helping strengthen engineering practices across a highly collaborative technical organization.

Location: Remote - US based candidates only, no visa sponsorship available

Compensation: $170,600 – $261,300 annually

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize production-grade C++ software across the secondary driving system stack, integrating ML-based perception with analytical planners and classical controllers.
• Design and implement planning and controls algorithms, including lane-keeping and obstacle avoidance.
• Collaborate with state estimation and mapping partners to define interfaces for reliable system engagement during primary stack failures.
• Own features end-to-end, from requirements clarification to on-road testing and iteration based on metrics.
• Champion software engineering best practices, including clean interfaces, code reviews, and automated testing.
• Analyze and debug complex integration issues using logs and telemetry to root-cause problems in perception, planning, and controls.
• Mentor and unblock other engineers through design discussions and code reviews.

Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or complex real-time/control systems.
• Strong proficiency in modern C++ (C++14/17 or later) and experience with large, multi-contributor codebases; familiarity with Python for tooling and data analysis.
• Experience in motion planning and controls, including trajectory generation, optimal control, and feedback control design.
• Experience integrating with perception and prediction pipelines, even if the focus is on planning and controls.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering reliable, high-quality autonomous or robotics software under latency/compute constraints.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across disciplines, including ML, systems, platform, and safety.

Benefits

• Variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs, including medical, dental, and vision.
• Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Accounts available.
• Retirement savings plan and life insurance options.
• Paid vacation and holidays, along with tuition assistance programs.
• Employee assistance program and vehicle discounts.

Our client is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification—your background could be exactly what this team needs.