Planning - Technical Lead

About the role

We are looking for a Technical Lead for Motion Planning who will guide the development of sophisticated motion planning modules for autonomous vehicles. Key responsibilities include:

• Leading efforts to design, implement, and deploy high-performance, kinematically-feasible planning algorithms that operate under strict timing constraints in diverse operational environments.
• Mentoring engineers, setting technical direction, ensuring software quality, and partnering with customers to understand requirements and deliver impactful solutions.
• Collaborating cross-functionally and driving best practices to accelerate autonomy technology at scale.
• Developing state-of-the-art onroad behavior software and leveraging ML components to achieve highway and city driving.
• Leveraging lightweight map data (SD maps) and the outputs of a perception system to determine driving costs for planning.
• Architecting and overseeing the implementation of planning modules that integrate perception outputs, predictions, and lightweight map data for dynamic path planning.
• Ensuring deployment readiness by establishing testing protocols and validation on production hardware and real-world road conditions, partnering with evaluation and vehicle teams.
• Collaborating directly with customer engineering teams, managing technical relationships to align deliverables with their autonomy goals.
• Driving continuous improvement in software practices, performance optimization, and innovation within the planning domain.
• Contributing technical leadership to internal project planning, prioritization, and roadmap development.

Requirements

• A BS in Computer Science, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, or a related engineering field with a focus on planning.
• 5+ years of experience building and leading production software teams, specifically in planning algorithms for autonomous vehicles.
• Proven ability to lead technical projects end-to-end and mentor junior engineers.
• Fluency in modern C++ and experience with performance-critical software.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to deliver practical, scalable solutions in fast-paced environments.
• Excellent communication skills for both technical leadership and customer-facing interactions.

Qualifications

• Nice to have: Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Computer Science, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, or related engineering field with a focus on planning.
• Experience with safety-critical software development and automotive industry standards.
• Hands-on experience testing planning systems on autonomous vehicles.
• Familiarity with machine learning applications in motion planning, combining traditional approaches with the state of the art.