Sensing Systems Engineer

Necessary Ventures; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 276,000 - 310,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayve is seeking a Sensing Systems Engineer in Sunnyvale to own the sensing stack across vehicle platforms and drive system-level decisions. You will define clear requirements, build validation frameworks, and collaborate with Hardware, Vehicle Software, ML/Perception, and Product teams to reduce ambiguity in sensing performance.

This full-time role sits in our Robotics team, with a focus on ensuring sensor integration meets performance standards for model development and deployment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in autonomous systems, robotics, automotive with real-world deployment.
• Translate high-level needs into clear, testable sensing requirements.
• Hands-on with camera, LiDAR or radar and integration into real platforms.
• Knowledge of perception and localization sensor suites and data alignment.
• Experience defining metrics, benchmarks, and acceptance criteria for performance.
• Desirable: experience in autonomous driving or ADAS.

Responsibilities

• Own sensing system performance and define acceptance criteria.
• Translate product needs into measurable sensing requirements.
• Develop and maintain sensing system requirements for perception and localization.
• Align requirements across Robotics, AV Product, Hardware and Vehicle SW.
• Design frameworks to evaluate sensing performance and benchmarks.
• Provide consultancy on sensor requirements for new vehicle programs.
• Lead cross-functional sensing coordination and decision making.

Skills

Autonomous systems

Systems engineering

Sensor modalities

Multi-sensor systems

Cross-functional collaboration

Model development & validation

Job description

About Us

Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology. Our advanced AI software and foundation models enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any complex environment, enhancing the usability and safety of automated driving systems.

Our vision is to create autonomy that propels the world forward. Our intelligent, mapless, and hardware-agnostic AI products are designed for automakers, accelerating the transition from assisted to automated driving.

In our fast-paced environment big problems ignite us—we embrace uncertainty, leaning into complex challenges to unlock groundbreaking solutions. We aim high and stay humble in our pursuit of excellence, constantly learning and evolving as we pave the way for a smarter, safer future.

At Wayve, your contributions matter. We value diversity, embrace new perspectives, and foster an inclusive work environment; we back each other to deliver impact.

Make Wayve the experience that defines your career!

The role

We are looking for a Sensing Systems Engineer to take ownership of the sensing subsystem across our vehicle platforms. This role sits within the Robotics team and operates at the intersection of AV Engineering, Hardware, Vehicle Software, Validation and Product.

You will be responsible for ensuring that our sensor stack and its integration into the vehicle platform meet the performance standards required for reliable model development and deployment. This includes defining clear requirements, building robust validation frameworks, and driving system-level decisions.

This is a cross-functional role focused on reducing ambiguity in sensing performance and enabling confident, data-driven decisions about vehicle readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Own sensing system performance
• Define what “good” looks like for the sensing stack in the context of model development, on-road performance and other applications using sensor data
• Translate high-level product needs into measurable sensing requirements
• Requirements & system definition
• Develop and maintain clear sensing system requirements (e.g., sensing subsystem performance for both perception and localization sensors, calibration quality etc.)
• Align requirements across Robotics, AV Product, Hardware, Vehicle SW and Automotive Product
• System architecture & integration
• Support Hardware and Vehicle Software teams to ensure correct sensor integration into the vehicle platform
• Identify trade-offs and drive decisions on sensor configuration and system design
• Provide consultancy on customers new vehicle programs on sensor requirements
• Verification & validation
• Design and implement frameworks to evaluate sensing system performance
• Establish benchmarks and acceptance criteria for new vehicle bring-up
• Diagnose and resolve sensor-related issues before they impact on‑road behaviour
• Cross-functional leadership
• Act as the central point of coordination for sensing across teams
• Bring clarity to decision‑making during ambiguous or fast‑moving bring‑up phases
• Impact on ML systems
• Evaluate how sensing quality affects model performance in real‑world scenarios
• Partner with ML teams to close the loop between data quality and model outcomes

About You

In order to set you up for success as a Sensing Systems Engineer at Wayve, we’re looking for the following skills and experience.

Essential

• 5+ years of experience in autonomous systems, robotics, automotive, or a closely related field, with direct involvement in real‑world system deployment or vehicle bring‑up
• Strong systems engineering capability, including translating high‑level product or model needs into clear, testable sensing requirements
• Hands‑on experience with at least one primary sensor modality (camera, LiDAR, radar), including integration into real‑world platforms such as vehicles or robotic systems
• Working knowledge of multi‑sensor systems, including both perception sensors (camera, LiDAR, radar) and localization sensors (IMU, GNSS, wheel odometry)
• Experience evaluating sensor performance and understanding limitations in real‑world conditions
• Experience defining metrics, benchmarks, and acceptance criteria for system performance
• Experience working closely with multiple stakeholders such as Hardware, Vehicle Software, ML/Perception/Localization, and Product teams

Desirable

• Experience in autonomous driving or ADAS systems
• Practical experience with sensor calibration, time synchronization, and data alignment
• Experience with vehicle platforms or embedded systems
• Background in safety‑critical or high‑reliability systems
• Experience on safety standards applied to AV, in particular SOTIF

This is a full‑time role based in our office in Sunnyvale. At Wayve we want the best of all worlds so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships and learning, and time spent working from home. The reasonably estimated salary for this role ranges from $276,000-$310,000, plus a competitive equity package. Actual compensation is based on the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience.

Wayve is committed to creating an inclusive interview experience. If you require any accommodations or adjustments to participate fully in our interview process, please let us know.

We understand that everyone has a unique set of skills and experiences and that not everyone will meet all of the requirements listed above. If you’re passionate about self‑driving cars and think you have what it takes to make a positive impact on the world, we encourage you to apply.

At Wayve we’re committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve.

To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

For US candidates only, please visit E‑Verify Notice and Participation and Right to Work

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non‑discriminatory.