Senior Autonomy Behavior Validation Engineer

About the role

The Autonomous Vehicle (AV) organization is dedicated to advancing the development of autonomous vehicles through cutting-edge simulation technologies and novel iterative development processes. The Software Validation team focuses on unlocking software launches and continuous release decisions via simulation-led verification and validation strategies, prototypes, and protocols. Our collaborative environment fosters innovation and excellence, allowing us to push the boundaries of what is possible in autonomous vehicle testing.

Responsibilities

• Build validation critics and agentic workflows to evaluate autonomy behavior, automate scenario review, and accelerate validation flows.
• Drive simulation-based ML evaluation at scale by evaluating deep learning modules in realistic sensor and traffic simulation and expanding behavioral and scenario coverage tightly linked to ML models.
• Translate validation strategies into production-quality code and automation pipelines that execute high-quality AV behavior analysis for continuous and scaled software release cycles.
• Ensure the quality and reliability of behavior validation outputs through monitoring, alerting, automated checks, and continuous improvement of the underlying code and data pipelines.
• Provide cross-functional collaboration across Simulation, Safety, Systems Engineering, and Autonomy focused on high-quality, automation-first software.

Requirements

5+ years of experience and MS/PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field. Background in autonomous vehicles. Strong programming skills in Python and experience with SQL; exposure to C++ or another compiled language is preferred. Experience writing clean, well-tested, and maintainable code for data processing, backend services, or scientific/analytical workflows. Hands-on experience using AI agents, LLM-based tools, or workflow orchestration to automate parts of the development, validation, or operations lifecycle. Experience working with large datasets to derive insights, build analyses, or drive decisions. Strong analytical thinking skills with the ability to interpret data and derive impactful conclusions. Ability to adapt and operate under ambiguity, going from quick code prototypes to longer-term, production-ready solutions on brief time horizons. Excellent communication skills, capable of switching between high-level and detailed technical discussions. Curiosity and willingness to learn new tools and domains, especially in autonomous systems, robotics, and safety-critical software.

Qualifications

5+ years of professional engineering experience building automation, internal tools, or data/analysis pipelines. Proven track record of successful software engineering on a safety-critical or high-reliability product, especially as it relates to verification and validation tools, testing frameworks, or CI/CD automation. Reusable internal libraries or frameworks that are used by other engineers. Demonstrated impact from introducing automation and AI-assisted tooling (e.g., AI agents, AI validation critics, smart monitoring) that improved scale, reliability, or engineering velocity in ML validation workflows. Experience working with robotics simulation environments or simulation-based testing. Experience developing dashboards and data visualizations using tools such as Looker, Jupyter notebooks, or similar platforms to communicate validation results to stakeholders.

Skills & Abilities

• 5+ years of experience and MS/PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field.
• Background in autonomous vehicles.
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with SQL; exposure to C++ or another compiled language is preferred.
• Experience writing clean, well-tested, and maintainable code for data processing, backend services, or scientific/analytical workflows.
• Hands-on experience using AI agents, LLM-based tools, or workflow orchestration to automate parts of the development, validation, or operations lifecycle.
• Experience working with large datasets to derive insights, build analyses, or drive decisions.
• Strong analytical thinking skills with the ability to interpret data and derive impactful conclusions.
• Ability to adapt and operate under ambiguity, going from quick code prototypes to longer-term, production-ready solutions on brief time horizons.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of switching between high-level and detailed technical discussions.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn new tools and domains, especially in autonomous systems, robotics, and safety-critical software.

Pay

The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The compensation may not be representative for positions located outside of New York, Colorado, California, or Washington. The salary range for this role: is $129,400 to $198,400. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.

Schedule

Not specified.