Staff Autonomy Software Engineer Software

Front Door Defense

Santa Cruz, Northern (CA, KY)

Hybrid

USD 167,000 - 243,000

Full time

4 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Healthcare benefits

401(k) plan with company match

Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Job summary

Joby Aviation seeks an Autonomy Staff Software Engineer to design and build the AI software for the Superpilot autonomy stack. You will own and develop software for autonomous aircraft, collaborating with experts in vision, ML, and robotics to enable safe, cross‑fleet autonomy.

You will architect perception software, data collection, calibration, and testing systems. The role requires deep software engineering and autonomy experience, with a focus on robust, scalable solutions across multiple

Qualifications

Degree in computer science, aerospace engineering, or related field.
10+ years of experience in software engineering.
Experience in developing software and systems for autonomous vehicles.
Experience in real-time, embedded software development.
Strong proficiency in C++ and Python.
Experience in devops such as Git, Docker, CI/CD, automation.
Experience developing software for high-bandwidth sensor data for robotics (cameras, lidars).
Ability to invent and own technical solutions in autonomy software.
Proven ability to document complex technical designs and roadmaps.
Champion of software best practices and mentorship.
Excellent communication for cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and maintain autonomy software across the stack.
Develop CV/ML algorithms for perception and reasoning in autonomous aircraft.
Contribute to integration, flight test, and simulation work across autonomy teams.
Build software systems for real-time, edge compute platforms.
Optimize perception algorithms for autonomous aircraft.
Support SW deployment, testing, and iteration.
Develop data collection and processing software for aircraft autonomy.
Collaborate with sensing, controls, and flight software teams.

Skills

C++

Python

DevOps

Embedded real‑time software

High bandwidth sensor data (cameras, L

Documentation & architecture

Software best practices

Communication

Education

B.S./M.S. in computer science, aerospace engineering, or related field

Tools

Git

Docker

CI/CD

Job description

Staff Autonomy Software Engineer

Lead the development of the autonomy software platform for multiple aircraft programs

Location: Santa Cruz, California Concord, California

Compensation: $167,400 - 242,900 USD / year

About The Role

Autonomy Staff Software Engineer

Joby Flight Research is seeking an Autonomy Staff Software Engineer, to design and build the AI software for our Superpilot™ autonomy stack. This position offers a unique opportunity to architect the software platform and algorithmic solutions that power Joby's varied fleet of autonomous aircraft. In this role, you will own, design, and develop the software solutions for aircraft autonomy. You will work closely with other software engineers and AI experts in computer vision, machine learning, and robotics. The role requires deep software engineering and autonomous systems industry experience and expertise.

You will design and develop robust perception software for autonomous flight. Further, you will also design and build software systems for data collection, calibration, and testing. Your work will help teams develop AI algorithms and validate safety-critical behavior to deploy autonomous flight on multiple types of aircraft.

We are a small, high-impact team that values curiosity, technical initiative, and the ability to operate independently. You will collaborate deeply with sensing, controls, and flight software engineers to build a foundation that accelerates our path to safe, autonomous flight. The right candidate is a strong autonomy software engineer who cares deeply about system design, software engineering, and enabling fast, safe iteration across multiple aircraft programs.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and maintain autonomy software across the stack spanning low-level embedded and higher-level autonomous aircraft
Design, implement, and maintain computer vision, machine learning, and AI algorithms for perception and reasoning in autonomous aircraft
Contribute to software engineering work in integration, flight test, and simulation work across autonomy teams
Design and target software systems for real-time, edge compute platforms
Optimize and tune AI perception algorithms for autonomous aircraft
Design and implement efficient solutions for SW deployment, testing, and iteration
Design robust software systems for autonomous aircraft data collection and processing
Evaluate and design advanced sensing and compute solutions for autonomous aircraft involving cameras, lidars, radars and other sensors and compute hardware
Collaborate closely with the rest of the Superpilot™ team to ideate, plan and execute on high-quality, well-integrated solutions and features
Monitor system health and performance, proactively addressing issues and providing user support

Required

Degree in computer science, aerospace engineering, or related field
10+ years of experience in software engineering
Experience in developing software and systems for autonomous vehicles
Experience in real-time, embedded software development
Strong proficiency in C++ and python
Experience in devops such as git, docker, CI/CD, automation
Experience developing SW for high-bandwidth sensor data for robotics platforms, e.g., cameras and lidars
Ability to invent and own technical solutions in autonomy software
Proven ability to document complex technical designs, architectural trade-offs, and implementation roadmaps
Champion of software best practices, including rigorous code reviews and mentorship
Excellent communication skills for collaborating with cross-functional teams

This position must meet US export control compliance requirements, therefore a candidate must qualify as a 'US Person' as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15. 'US Person' includes US Citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees.

Desired

Software development experience in aerospace autonomy
Expertise in processing aircraft data (GPS, inertial, ADS-B, air data, radio data)
Expertise in ROS2 or related middleware and DDS systems
Experience in RTOS, edge/embedded computed, and data collection and processing
Expert-level software engineering: deep expertise in architecting and writing clean, scalable, and maintainable code
Experience with aircraft autonomy SIL/HIL, hardware, electronics

Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $167,400 - $242,900/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.