Staff Software Engineer, Planner

doordashusa; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision coverage

Retirement matching

Parental leave

Paid time off

Paid sick leave

Wellness programs

Disability and life insurance

Family-forming assistance

Mental health resources

Flexible vacation

Annual sick leave

Job summary

DoorDash seeks a software engineer to design and deliver planning systems that help autonomous vehicles navigate complex urban and suburban environments, covering behavior planning, motion planning, and trajectory optimization for safe, reliable operation. You will build real-time features, automate root-cause analysis, and develop evaluation and validation frameworks.

Collaborations with perception, prediction, controls, and platform teams will drive improved robustness and efficiency across

Qualifications

• Degree in computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, or related field.
• Strong C++ engineering skills and production-quality software experience.
• Experience developing or deploying motion planning, trajectory optimization, robotics, or real-time decision systems.
• Ability to use data-driven evaluation, simulation, and metrics to guide engineering decisions.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship real-time behavior and motion planning features for complex driving scenarios.
• Automate root-cause analysis and reduce planner disengagements and persistent failure cases.
• Develop evaluation, simulation, and validation frameworks for safe expansion into new regions.
• Collaborate with perception, prediction, controls, and platform teams to improve end-to-end autonomy.
• Guide architecture decisions to improve robustness, generalization, and efficiency.

Skills

C++

Motion planning

Trajectory optimization

Robotics systems

Real-time decision systems

Education

CS/EE/Robotics degree or equivalent

Job description

Role overview

Design and deliver planning systems that help autonomous vehicles navigate complex urban and suburban environments. The work spans behavior planning, motion planning, and trajectory optimization, with a focus on safe, reliable performance amid dynamic conditions. You’ll use experience from the full autonomy development lifecycle to help resolve difficult technical challenges and improve production systems.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship real-time behavior and motion planning features for complex driving scenarios.
• Automate root-cause analysis and reduce planner disengagements and persistent failure cases.
• Develop evaluation, simulation, and validation frameworks to support safe expansion into new operating regions.
• Work with perception, prediction, controls, and platform teams to improve end-to-end autonomy.
• Guide architecture decisions that improve robustness, generalization, and computational efficiency.

Requirements

• Degree in computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong C++ engineering skills and a record of building production-quality software.
• Experience developing or deploying motion planning, trajectory optimization, robotics, or real-time decision systems.
• Ability to use data-driven evaluation, simulation, and performance metrics to guide engineering decisions.

Benefits and work setup

• Eligible employees receive equity opportunities and benefits that include health, dental, and vision coverage; retirement matching; paid parental leave; paid time off and sick leave; commuter and wellness support; disability and life insurance; family-forming assistance; and mental health resources.
• Salaried roles include flexible vacation time and annual paid sick leave.