Technical Lead Manager, Motion Validation

Kindredventures; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 235,000 - 352,000; Full time

Job summary

Nuro is hiring for a leadership role focused on the robotics-based safety protections within the autonomy stack. You will own core logic, address real-world autonomy issues, and guide a growing team to deliver principled, tested solutions.

The role demands deep expertise in motion planning, optimization, and physics, with strong leadership skills to mentor engineers and drive cross-functional collaboration across AI modeling, eval, systems, and operations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience building safety-critical motion planning, decision making, trajectory optimization, or controls for real-world robots or autonomous vehicles.
• Deployment track record: taking robotics behavior from development into real-world operation.
• Strong technical depth in math, physics, and optimization-based planning methods.
• Leadership experience mentoring engineers and guiding projects.
• Judgment and urgency in delivering high-quality solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own the core logic and software implementation for robotics-based safety protections in the autonomy stack.
• Serve as primary POC for solving real-world autonomy issues, including root cause analysis and testing.
• Lead and grow a technical team dedicated to this problem area.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with AI modeling, eval, systems, and operations teams.

Skills

C++

Robotics

Motion planning

Optimization

Leadership

Education

BS/MS/PhD in Robotics, CS, EE/ME/AE

Job description

Who We Are

Nuro believes self-driving vehicles are the most immediate and profound opportunity for AI to drive positive change in the physical world. Safer streets, more time for what matters, and easier access to the world around us, that’s why we’re building a universal autonomy platform: self-driving for all roads and all rides. Founded in 2016, Nuro is a physical AI company developing Level 4 autonomous driving technology for a wide range of vehicles, use cases, and markets. Powered by the Nuro Driver, our universal autonomy platform enables the global mobility ecosystem to deploy autonomy at scale, from robotaxis and logistics fleets to personal vehicles. With years of real-world deployment experience and a flexible, partner-led business model, Nuro is working toward a future where millions of autonomous vehicles powered by our technology help make everyday life safer, easier, and more connected. Nuro has raised over $2B in capital from Uber, NVIDIA, Google, Softbank, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, and other leading investors.

About the Team

L4 driverless deployment creates an incredibly high bar for behavior quality and safety. This motivates:

• A layer of principled robotics-based safety protections for the autonomy system
• A process for solving every issue observed onroad, in a way that is fast and trustworthy

This team owns both these critical safety components and the iteration loop. We’re looking for someone who is passionate about robotics and safety, excited about the challenge of supporting a real commercial deployment, and enthusiastic about integrating solutions seamlessly with the data-driven autonomy system.

About the Work

You will:

• Own the core logic and software implementation for the robotics-based safety protections in the autonomy stack
• Be the primary POC for solving real world autonomy issues, including root cause analysis, design and implementation of principled solutions, and testing and deployment.
• Lead and grow a technical team dedicated to this problem area.
• Work cross-functionally with AI modeling teams, eval, systems, and operations.

About You

We are targeting candidates with deep technical knowledge in motion and behavior systems, strong technical judgment on how to solve robotics problems, and the hands-on leadership skills to grow a team that operates at that standard.

• Education: BS/MS/PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, EE/ME/AE, or a related quantitative field.
• Experience: 5+ years of industry experience building safety-critical motion planning, decision making, trajectory optimization, or controls systems for real-world robots or autonomous vehicles.
• Deployment Track Record: Demonstrated experience taking robotics behavior from development into real-world operation, including diagnosing and fixing issues found in the field.
• Technical Depth: Strong C++; solid math (geometry, optimization, probability) and physics (kinematics, dynamics); fluency in optimization-based, sampling-based, and search-based planning, and in combining data-driven with model-based methods.
• Leadership: Experience leading technical projects and mentoring or managing engineers; able to set direction and earn the trust of a strong team while remaining hands-on.
• Judgment & Urgency: A bias toward minimal, principled solutions and a strong sense of urgency for high-quality execution.

At Nuro, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. For this position, the reasonably expected base pay range is between $235,030 and $352,290 for the level at which this job has been scoped. Your base pay will depend on several factors, including your experience, qualifications, education, location, and skills. In the event that you are considered for a different level, a higher or lower pay range would apply. This position is also eligible for an annual performance bonus, equity, and a competitive benefits package.

At Nuro, we celebrate differences and are committed to a diverse workplace that fosters inclusion and psychological safety for all employees. Nuro is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and expressly prohibits any form of workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics. #LI-DNP