Staff Autonomy Engineer — Robotics & Fleet AI

TAR; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation bonus to up to $15K

Unlimited PTO

Health, Dental, Vision insurance

$1K monthly meals stipend

Job summary

TAR is seeking a Staff Autonomy Engineer to build the autonomy software stack for its on-site robotics fleet. You will own core areas from perception to fleet coordination, mentor engineers, and shape the technical direction while collaborating with robotics, hardware, and field teams.

Based in San Francisco with occasional travel to West Texas, you will translate field needs into concrete technical plans, design robust interfaces, and ensure safe, scalable operation of autonomous systems across

Qualifications

• Typically 8+ years of production engineering experience, including ownership of robotics systems at scale and leadership of complex technical projects.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• A strong record of personally shipping production autonomy software on real hardware, with current depth in implementation, debugging, and system design.
• Experience owning a robotic system through development, field deployment, and ongoing operation.
• Depth in at least one of perception, state estimation, planning, or controls, with real-time, safety-critical experience in Rust, C, C++,
• Evidence of leading complex technical work across software, hardware, and field teams, including situations where requirements or ownership were initially unclear.
• The judgment to choose an appropriately simple solution, recognize when a decision has wider consequences, and explain trade-offs clearly.
• Experience translating field needs into technical priorities and an achievable delivery plan.
• The ability to improve other engineers' work through collaboration, constructive feedback, and mentoring.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and operate safety critical autonomy software across perception, localization, planning, and controls. Tune safety, reliability, and operational flow so that it adapts to construction and power sites with humans and other robots.
• Own a part of the autonomy stack. Identify dependencies, sequence work, and make the consequences of competing priorities explicit.
• Turn ambiguous needs into concrete technical proposals with clear scope, alternatives, and a practical path to delivery.
• Influence architectural decisions across connected systems, such as how perception, planning, and controls share state and how the fleet layer deconflicts machines on one site. Establish clear interfaces while preserving ownership within individual engineering areas.
• Communicate tradeoffs with mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing counterparts. Define how software exchanges telemetry and commands with the machine, handles communication failures, and passes testing before deployment.
• Improve simulation, CI, testing, and release practices so the team validates changes before they reach a machine.
• When needed, spend time at the West Texas site, closing the loop between field performance and software fixes.
• Mentor engineers through design discussions, code reviews, and collaborative problem-solving. Contribute to hiring and help develop technical judgment across the team.

Skills

Robotics systems

Leadership

Production autonomy software

Rust/C/C++

Field deployment

Real-time systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Job description

TAR is seeking a Staff Autonomy Engineer to build the autonomy software stack for its on-site robotics fleet. You will own core areas from perception to fleet coordination, mentor engineers, and shape the technical direction while collaborating with robotics, hardware, and field teams.

Based in San Francisco with occasional travel to West Texas, you will translate field needs into concrete technical plans, design robust interfaces, and ensure safe, scalable operation of autonomous systems across