Staff ML Engineer: Real-Time 3D Perception & Failsafe

Rivian; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 228,000 - 285,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Job summary

Rivian is seeking a Staff ML Software Engineer to lead the failsafe system for autonomous vehicles. You will own end-to-end lifecycle, defining safety metrics, benchmarking, and deploying real-time 3D perception solutions. Focus areas include sensor degradations and automated recovery strategies.

You will work on multi-modal models (camera/LiDAR), evaluate uncertainty, and drive safety-related architecture with cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment. Strong C++/Python skills required.

Qualifications

• BS, MS or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field.
• 7+ years of professional experience scaling production-grade ML software for autonomy or robotics.
• Hands-on experience building algorithms for autonomous vehicle perception or environmental scene understanding.
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python; experience with real-time software performance optimization and latency profiling.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, delivery and deployment of production-grade, highly reliable failsafe algorithms for L3 and L4 platforms, focusing on real-time sensor blockage, degradation, and occlusion detection.
• Develop multi-modal (camera and/or LiDAR) models to analyze real-time road conditions, including surface wetness, friction/mu-estimation, and physical drivability hazards.
• Design intelligent algorithms to trigger automated sensor-cleaning hardware and recovery strategies, maximizing ADAS uptime in challenging environments.
• Architect systems to evaluate and report real-time 3D perception uncertainty and capability limits, interfacing with planning and safety fallback managers.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define strict safety boundaries, testing benchmarks, and guide system-level architecture trade-offs.

Skills

C++ and Python

Real-time optimization

Perception pipelines

Autonomous vehicle perception

Roadmap delivery

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS, Robotics, EE

Job description

Rivian is seeking a Staff ML Software Engineer to lead the failsafe system for autonomous vehicles. You will own end-to-end lifecycle, defining safety metrics, benchmarking, and deploying real-time 3D perception solutions. Focus areas include sensor degradations and automated recovery strategies.

You will work on multi-modal models (camera/LiDAR), evaluate uncertainty, and drive safety-related architecture with cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment. Strong C++/Python skills required.