Senior/ Staff Software Engineer, Motion Planning

Booster; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

A leader in autonomous logistics is seeking a Senior/Staff Software Engineer in Motion Planning to join their team in Mountain View, CA. This role focuses on designing and optimizing motion planning systems for autonomous vehicles, requiring strong C++ skills and expertise in robotics. Candidates should have a Ph.D. with relevant experience or a Master’s with substantial experience. Join the innovative team to revolutionize autonomous middle-mile logistics while working in a collaborative, problem-solving environment.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. with 3+ years or Master’s with 5+ years of experience in robotics, motion planning, or autonomous systems.
• Deep expertise in at least two specific planning methods.
• Strong proficiency in C++, with experience in production-quality code.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and optimize the motion planning stack.
• Develop various planning methods for generating collision-free trajectories.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure robust planning behavior.

Skills

Lattice-based planning

Trajectory optimization

C++ proficiency

Simulation tools

System-level debugging

Education

Ph.D. in robotics or related field

Master’s degree in a related field

Job description

Overview

Senior/ Staff Software Engineer, Motion Planning — Mountain View, CA

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution. Gatik focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers. The company uses Level 4 autonomous technology and operates Class 3-7 autonomous trucks deployed across multiple markets.

The role is to join the planning team to build motion planning and decision-making systems and mature new products through production. The planning team calculates safe paths for the autonomous vehicle to follow using mapping data, localization data, waypoints, and predicted actors around the vehicle, with improvements for emergency situations and complex maneuvers such as loading dock access and variable lane changes.

This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Mountain View, CA office.

What you'll do

• Design, implement, and optimize the motion planning stack for autonomous vehicles, enabling safe, comfortable, and efficient driving in diverse real-world environments.
• Develop lattice-based planners, sampling-based planners, and optimization-based methods for generating dynamically feasible, collision-free trajectories.
• Integrate constraints from perception, prediction, and control to generate context-aware motion plans under uncertainty.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with behavior planning, control, and mapping teams to ensure robust and consistent planning behavior.
• Optimize and maintain C++-based infrastructure for trajectory generation, evaluation, and deployment in real-time onboard systems.
• Analyze closed-loop simulation and on-road performance; identify and resolve failure cases involving traffic interactions, occlusions, or dynamic obstacles.

What we're looking for

• Ph.D. with 3+ years or Master’s with 5+ years of experience in robotics, motion planning, or autonomous systems.
• Deep expertise in at least two of the following: lattice-based planning, trajectory optimization, model predictive control, or search-based planning.
• Strong proficiency in C++, with experience in production-quality code for real-time or safety-critical systems.
• Solid understanding of vehicle dynamics, control interfaces, and motion feasibility constraints.
• Experience with simulation tools and debugging motion planner behavior in realistic driving environments.
• Knowledge of diffusion models and/or Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models is a strong plus.
• Excellent analytical and system-level debugging skills; strong communication and cross-functional collaboration capabilities.

Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000