Staff Software Engineer, Mission Planning

Kodiak AI; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation with equity &

Bonuses

Health plans (medical, dental, vision)

Flexible PTO

Dog-friendly office

Job summary

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to lead mission planning, routing, and human-assisted autonomy for driverless trucks in Mountain View, CA. You will shape the motion planning stack and collaborate with cross-functional teams.

This role demands 6+ years of robotics software experience, strong C++, and proven leadership delivering complex autonomous systems. You will mentor engineers and drive architecture, interfaces, and performance improvements.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience developing production-level robotics software.
• Strong facility with modern C++.
• Expertise in motion planning, graph theory, distributed computing, and related domains.
• Delivery of complex autonomous systems.
• Leadership to solve ambiguous, real-world challenges.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of mission planning, routing, and autonomy for driverless trucks.
• Develop architecture and long-term roadmap for motion planning.
• Identify metrics to drive product excellence in the engineering teams.
• Study product opportunities to delight customers and improve autonomy.
• Mentor engineers and raise engineering standards across the org.
• Integrate onboard and offboard driving logic.

Skills

C++

Motion planning

Graph theory

Distributed computing

Robotics software development

Leadership

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Mission Planning

Mountain View, CA

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous technology. In 2024, Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Kodiak is recruiting a Staff Software Engineer to lead design and development of mission planning, routing, and human-assisted autonomy for Kodiak driverless trucks. The role provides scope and visibility to influence the roadmap for the entire motion planning stack, including behavior, prediction, and trajectory generation.

This is an opportunity to collaborate with Product, Perception, Controls, and other cross-functional teams in order to improve overall autonomy performance. Customers interact with Kodiak trucks through mission assignments, making this a key engineering position to achieve product excellence.

The role spans a range of motion planning responsibilities, from graph traversal and routing, to mission planning and product development, to human-assisted autonomy and operations.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the design and development of mission planning, routing, and human-assisted autonomy for driverless operation on public roads
• Develop the architecture and long-term roadmap for motion planning
• Identify metrics to orient engineering teams toward product excellence
• Study the product for opportunities to delight our customers
• Mentor and provide technical leadership to junior and senior engineers, raising the bar for engineering excellence across the engineering organization
• Integrate onboard and offboard driving logic
• Collaborate with human-assisted autonomy and operations specialists to facilitate safe, efficient missions
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the Kodiak Driver
• Automate and expedite truck launches and landings
• Partner cross-functionally with Perception, Controls, Systems, Simulation, and Product teams to define interfaces, requirements, and system behavior
• Solve difficult real-world problems involving route generation, mission updates, responsive driving, real-time and cloud computing, and more!

What you’ll bring:

• 6+ years of experience developing production-level robotics software
• Strong facility with modern C++
• Expertise in motion planning, graph theory, distributed computing, and related domains
• Delivery of complex autonomous systems
• Leadership to solve ambiguous, real-world challenges

Bonus points if you have:

• Managed or mentored robotics engineers
• Deployed software on autonomous vehicles
• Built a safety case for driverless autonomy
• Improved system performance (latency, throughput, reliability) in production environments
• Built on simulation frameworks
• Based decisions on data analysis

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies
• Our office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA
• Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation)
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA

The pay range listed below reflects the base salary in our SF/Silicon Valley location, across several internal levels. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors including: work location, experience, relevant training, education, skill level and performance during interview. Total compensation at Kodiak includes base pay, equity, bonus and a competitive benefits package

$200,000 - $250,000 USD

At Kodiak, we strive to build a diverse community working towards our common company goals in a safe and collaborative environment where harassment of any kind is strictly prohibited. Kodiak is committed to equal opportunity employment regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

In alignment with its business operations, Kodiak adheres to all relevant statutes, regulations, and administrative prerequisites. Accordingly, roles that carry more sensitive requirements may be limited to candidates that can satisfy additional scrutiny and eligibility for such positions may hinge on verification of a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status. Should the position require, and Kodiak determines that a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status necessitate an export license, bar the candidate from the position, or otherwise fall under national security-related restrictions, Kodiak will consider the candidate for alternative positions unaffected by such restrictions, under terms and conditions set forth at Kodiak’s sole discretion, or, as an alternative, opt not to proceed with the candidate’s application. If applicable, Kodiak may provide visa sponsorship for eligible candidates.