Director, Application Engineering, US

About the role

Our Application Software Engineering teams bring Wayve's core AI and autonomous driving technology into production vehicles. Working at the intersection of AI and autonomy, vehicle engineering and our automotive partners, the team turns advances in our core technology into safe, reliable, production-ready driving capabilities across different vehicles, platforms and markets. As Director of Application Software, US, you will lead and grow the US engineering organisation responsible for this work, building a strong technical bridge between Wayve's core engineering teams and our OEM customers.

You will lead the engineering organisation responsible for applying Wayve's AI Driver to customer vehicle programmes, from technical definition through integration, validation, release and production. You will work closely with our AI, autonomy, vehicle, product, safety and validation teams, while partnering directly with senior engineering leaders at our automotive customers. This is a highly collaborative technical leadership role. You do not need to be the specialist in every part of the technology stack, but you will need the technical judgement to connect AI and autonomy with vehicle systems, make thoughtful engineering trade-offs and create an environment where great engineering teams can succeed.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow our US Application Software organisation, developing senior engineers, technical leaders and engineering managers.
• Own how Wayve's core AI and autonomous driving technology is applied to customer vehicle programmes, from technical definition through integration, validation, release and production.
• Guide the development and delivery of new ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities across machine learning, autonomy, vehicle systems and application software.
• Create a strong technical bridge between Wayve's core engineering teams and our OEM customers, ensuring vehicle and customer requirements are reflected in engineering priorities.
• Provide technical and architectural leadership across autonomous driving, ML-enabled systems, embedded software, vehicle integration and deployment.
• Partner closely with AI, autonomy, product, safety, validation, release and systems engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges and deliver high-quality customer outcomes.
• Turn learning from individual customer programmes into reusable components, engineering practices and integration approaches that accelerate future deployments.
• Build trusted relationships with senior engineering stakeholders at our automotive partners and represent Wayve in technical discussions, architecture reviews and programme planning.
• Bring insights from customer deployments back into Wayve's core technology and product teams, helping shape our architecture and global deployment strategy.

Requirements

• Significant engineering and leadership experience within autonomous driving, ADAS, automotive AI or related vehicle technologies.
• Strong understanding of autonomous driving and machine learning, including how ML-enabled driving capabilities are developed, integrated, validated and deployed in vehicles.
• Experience taking new driving features, behaviours or capabilities from development towards production, with meaningful technical ownership across the autonomy or ML and vehicle integration lifecycle.
• Delivered complex software or AI-enabled systems within production automotive programmes and understand vehicle systems, embedded platforms and integration constraints.
• Built and led multidisciplinary engineering teams and developed senior engineers, technical leaders and engineering managers.
• Strong technical judgement across AI, autonomy and vehicle systems, with the ability to make effective architectural and engineering trade-offs across disciplines.
• Ability to build trusted relationships with OEM customers and senior technical partners while representing engineering priorities clearly and credibly.
• Experience with end-to-end learned driving systems, automotive embedded environments such as C++, Linux, QNX or Adaptive AUTOSAR, or automotive safety and security frameworks such as ISO 26262, ISO/SAE 21434, UN R155/156 or A-SPICE is valuable but not required across every area.

Benefits

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve
• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable
• Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

Schedule

This is a full-time role based in Detroit or Sunnyvale, CA (hybrid). We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely.

Interview Process

• Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins)
• Hiring manager / leadership conversation
• Technical and domain deep-dives covering autonomous driving, AI/ML, vehicle systems and engineering leadership
• Cross-functional and customer leadership interview
• Final interview: mission & values alignment