Software Engineer - Autonomy

About the role
As a Software Engineer on the Autonomy team, you will be at the heart of our autonomy stack. We are building the software stack that drives multi-ton trucks autonomously on highways. As an Onboard Software Engineer, you will own the real-time systems that run directly on the vehicle compute platform - from sensor data ingestion and perception pipelines to motion planning execution and safety arbitration. Your code ships on trucks, not just in simulation.

This is a deeply cross-functional role. You will collaborate daily with autonomy domain experts, hardware engineers, safety leads, and validation teams to turn algorithms into production-grade software that operates safely and reliably at highway speeds.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

Design, implement, and optimize real-time onboard software modules including perception, sensor fusion, path planning execution, vehicle control, and safety monitoring.

Maintain and improve the middleware layer connecting sensor hardware (lidar, radar, cameras, GPS/IMU) to autonomy algorithm consumers.

Own latency and throughput performance across the onboard compute stack, profiling and tuning for deterministic behavior under resource constraints.

Implement ASIL-relevant architecture patterns including fault detection, isolation, and recovery mechanisms.

Build diagnostics, logging, and observability tooling to support post-drive analysis and rapid root-cause investigations.

Write thorough unit, integration, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests; contribute to CI/CD pipelines for onboard compute targets.

Collaborate with the autonomy team to productionize research algorithms, translating prototype SW into efficient C++ deployments.

We’re looking for someone who has:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, or a related field.

5+ years of professional experience in software development.

Exceptional proficiency in C++ and experience with modern C++ standards.

Experience working in a Linux environment.

Knowledge of data serialization formats (e.g., Protobuf, JSON).

Nice to have:

Experience with robotics middleware like ROS or DDS.

Background in AV perception, prediction, or planning systems.

Familiarity with vehicle data buses (e.g., CAN, Ethernet).

Experience with multi-threaded and concurrent programming.

Experience in a startup or fast-paced environment.

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact careers@applied.co. We will work with you!