Staff Software Engineer, Trajectory Selection

Stack AV; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in AI and autonomous systems is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to develop their Trajectory Selection system. This role involves working on motion planning, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and ensuring safe navigation of autonomous systems. Ideal candidates will have a strong background in robotics and software engineering, particularly in C++ and Python.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3+ in robotics or motion planning.
• Proficiency in C++ (C++14/17) and solid software design skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the trajectory selection module for real-time motion planning.
• Develop algorithms to evaluate and score candidate trajectories.

Skills

C++

Python

Robotics

Motion Planning

Numerical Optimization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Bachelor’s degree in Robotics

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Trajectory Selection

Pittsburgh, PA or Remote

About Stack:

Stack is developing revolutionary AI and advanced autonomous systems designed to enhance safety, reliability, and efficiency of modern operations. Stack's autonomous technology incorporates cutting-edge advancements in artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, and cloud technologies, empowering us to create innovative solutions that address the needs and challenges of the dynamic trucking transportation industry. With decades of experience creating and deploying real world systems for demanding environments, the Stack team is dedicated to developing an autonomous solution ecosystem tailored to the trucking industry's unique demands.

About the Role:

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to contribute to the development of our Trajectory Selection system, a critical component of our motion planning stack. In this role, you will work at the intersection of robotics, real-time systems, and decision-making algorithms to ensure safe, smooth, and intelligent navigation of autonomous systems in dynamic environments. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams including Planning, Perception, Controls, and Simulation to design and implement high-performance software that balances safety, comfort, and efficiency.

We are looking for strong software engineers with motion planning experience to help in developing and deploying motion planning components for next generation self-driving systems. This requires strong ownership over critical components. Candidates need to understand, experiment, improve, and field state-of-the-art motion planning algorithms and systems in real-time, safety-critical applications. We are focused on building a product. Candidates should have a mission-driven mindset and customer-centric obsession to deliver a compelling product, and be able to work with significant cross-functional interactions.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement the trajectory selection module for real-time motion planning.
• Develop algorithms to evaluate and score candidate trajectories based on safety, kinematics, comfort, and goal achievement.
• Integrate cost models, constraints, and prediction outputs from upstream systems (e.g., perception, forecasting).
• Optimize system performance for runtime efficiency and determinism in safety-criticalapplications.
• Collaborate with other domain experts (e.g., ML, prediction, controls) to ensure seamless system integration.
• Write clean, well-documented, and tested code in C++ and Python.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3+ in robotics, motion planning, or autonomous systems.
• Proficiency in C++ (C++14/17), with solid software design and debugging skills.
• Deep understanding of trajectory generation and evaluation in dynamic environments.
• Experience with numerical optimization, search/planning algorithms (e.g., A*, RRT), or control theory.
• Strong understanding of kinematic/dynamic models and constraints in vehicle or robotic systems.
• Experience with ML models is a plus.

#LI-AW1

We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We believe that diverse teams produce the best ideas and outcomes. We are committed to building a culture of inclusion, entrepreneurship, and innovation across gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and identity.

Please Note: Pursuant to its business activities and use of technology, Stack AV complies with all applicable U.S. national security laws, regulations, and administrative requirements, which can restrict Stack AV’s ability to employ certain persons in certain positions pursuant to a range of national security-related requirements. As such, this position may be contingent upon Stack AV verifying a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status. This position may also involve working with software and technologies subject to U.S. export control regulations. Under these regulations, it may be necessary for Stack AV to obtain a U.S. government export license prior to releasing its technologies to certain persons. If Stack AV determines that a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status will require a license, prohibit the candidate from working in this position, or otherwise be subject to national security-related restrictions, Stack AV expressly reserves the right to either consider the candidate for a different position that is not subject to such restrictions, on whatever terms and conditions Stack AV shall establish in its sole discretion, or, in the alternative, decline to move forward with the candidate’s application.

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