Senior Software Engineer, Planning and Control Integration – Autonomous Vehicles

Roboticsconnected; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA is seeking a hands-on software engineer to shape how vehicles plan, decide, and act on the road. You will own the driving behavior of our autonomous driving stack across multiple production programs, perform deep root-cause analysis, tune planning and control algorithms, and build automation tools for scalable engineering impact globally.

You will ride in test vehicles, collaborate with OEM partners, and ensure safe, comfortable, and production-ready autonomous driving behavior across L2

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Vehicle Engineering, or a related field
• 5+ years of autonomous driving, ADAS, or robotics software development experience, with strong C++ and Python skills
• Solid knowledge of motion planning, trajectory planning, vehicle control, vehicle dynamics/kinematics, or numerical optimization
• Hands-on experience integrating planning and control modules into a production or prototype autonomous driving software stack
• Experience with multi-carline adaptation, on-vehicle debugging, parameter tuning, simulation, log analysis, and production software development
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and English communication skills
• Proficient English communication skills (written and verbal) - able to produce clear technical reports and participate in meetings with global teams

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end Planning & Control integration across the NVIDIA AV software stack, including module interfaces, data flow, timing, and cross-team integration and validation with perception, localization, and vehicle actuation systems
• Design, develop, and optimize planning and control algorithms for core L2, L2+, and L2++ driving scenarios, and drive their integration into the production software stack
• Perform system integration, carline adaptation, and parameter tuning for planning and control modules across different vehicle platforms - adapting to diverse vehicle dynamics, steering systems, braking characteristics, sensor configurations, and OEM platform requirements
• Build and maintain cross-carline integration validation workflows and comparison tooling to systematically evaluate integration behavior differences across vehicle platforms and accelerate multi-carline integration at scale
• Improve the safety, comfort, feasibility, smoothness, and system-level robustness of the integrated planning and control system across different road geometries, traffic conditions, and vehicle platforms
• Analyze, triage, and resolve cross-module Planning & Control integration and functional issues across multiple autonomous driving programs from L2 through L4
• Perform integration root-cause analysis, bring-up validation, and performance tuning using simulation, replay tools, vehicle logs, on-vehicle diagnostics, and real-world testing, and provide clear resolution proposals
• Collaborate with global teams and OEM partners to drive software integration, validation, release readiness, and production delivery; travel domestically and internationally for on-vehicle integration testing and customer collaboration as needed

Skills

C++

Python

Autonomous driving

Robotics software

English communication

Education

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

Tools

ROS

Simulation tools

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 software engineer to shape how vehicles plan, decide, and act on the road. In this role, you will own the driving behavior of our autonomous driving stack across multiple production programs - performing deep root-cause analysis, adapting planning and control algorithms to diverse vehicle platforms, and building automation tools that scale our engineering impact globally. You will ride in test vehicles, tune real-world performance, and collaborate directly with OEM partners to deliver safe, comfortable, and production-ready autonomous driving behavior.

What you'll be doing:

• Own end-to-end Planning & Control integration across the NVIDIA AV software stack, including module interfaces, data flow, timing, and cross-team integration and validation with perception, localization, and vehicle actuation systems

• Design, develop, and optimize planning and control algorithms for core L2, L2+, and L2++ driving scenarios, and drive their integration into the production software stack

• Perform system integration, carline adaptation, and parameter tuning for planning and control modules across different vehicle platforms - adapting to diverse vehicle dynamics, steering systems, braking characteristics, sensor configurations, and OEM platform requirements

• Build and maintain cross-carline integration validation workflows and comparison tooling to systematically evaluate integration behavior differences across vehicle platforms and accelerate multi-carline integration at scale

• Improve the safety, comfort, feasibility, smoothness, and system-level robustness of the integrated planning and control system across different road geometries, traffic conditions, and vehicle platforms

• Analyze, triage, and resolve cross-module Planning & Control integration and functional issues across multiple autonomous driving programs from L2 through L4

• Perform integration root-cause analysis, bring-up validation, and performance tuning using simulation, replay tools, vehicle logs, on-vehicle diagnostics, and real-world testing, and provide clear resolution proposals

• Collaborate with global teams and OEM partners to drive software integration, validation, release readiness, and production delivery; travel domestically and internationally for on-vehicle integration 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

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

• Solid knowledge of motion planning, trajectory planning, vehicle control, vehicle dynamics/kinematics, or numerical optimization

• Hands-on experience integrating planning and control modules into a production or prototype autonomous driving software stack

• Experience with multi-carline adaptation, on-vehicle debugging, parameter tuning, simulation, log analysis, and production software development

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

• Proficient English communication skills (written and verbal) - able to produce clear technical reports and participate in meetings with global teams

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

• Production experience developing and integrating planning and control algorithms for autonomous driving or ADAS systems

• Multi-carline development experience - adapting and tuning planning and control parameters across different vehicle dynamics, steering systems, and brake characteristics

• Experience driving end-to-end Planning & Control integration across modules, vehicle platforms, or OEM programs, handling complex interactive scenarios such as lane changes, merging, yielding, cut-ins, and intersections, has knowledge of functional safety or autonomous driving validation standards

• Expertise in path/speed planning, trajectory optimization, model predictive control, or constrained numerical optimization

• Experience building developer tools, test automation frameworks, or cross-carline comparison workflows