Staff Software Engineer, Motion Planning

Kodiak is recruiting a Staff Software Engineer to join our Planning team and advance the Kodiak Driver’s ability to safely and gracefully handle complex real-world driving scenarios.

In this role, you will:

• Design and develop motion planning and prediction systems for driverless operation on public roads
• Develop the architecture and long-term roadmap for planning and prediction
• Mentor and provide technical leadership to junior and senior engineers, raising the bar for engineering excellence across the engineering organization
• Integrate engineered driving logic and machine-learning models
• Develop robust models to predict the behavior of other actors, improving both safety and driving performance
• Partner cross-functionally with Perception, Controls, Systems, and Simulation teams to define interfaces, requirements, and system behavior
• Solve difficult real-world problems involving lane changing, merging, speed modulation, mission updates, multi-trajectory prediction, and more!

What you’ll bring:

• 6+ years of experience developing production-level robotics software
• Strong facility with modern C++
• Expertise in motion planning, trajectory optimization, graph theory, and related domains
• Delivery of complex autonomous systems
• Leadership through ambiguous, unsolved challenges

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience deploying software on driverless autonomous vehicles
• Experience improving system performance (latency, throughput, reliability) in production environments
• Familiarity with simulation frameworks and data-driven development workflows
• A track record of mentoring engineers

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
• Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
• 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
• Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)