Senior Motion Planning Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles

Location: San Francisco, CA — on-site, five days per week Compensation: $176,000–$240,000 base + competitive equity + annual bonus Visa Support: Transfers and new sponsorships welcome

About the Opportunity: Our client develops autonomous systems for demanding industrial environments. Its technology operates in commercial deployments, giving engineers the opportunity to solve planning problems that directly affect real-world productivity and safety. The company is expanding its planning team and seeking a Senior Robotics Planning Engineer to develop the algorithms that guide individual vehicles and coordinate entire fleets. You'll work in an engineering-led environment with substantial ownership over technical decisions and implementation.

The Role: You'll build planning systems for heavy autonomous ground vehicles, from generating feasible paths and trajectories to coordinating traffic and assigning work across a site. This role requires direct experience developing motion planning algorithms. Your work will help vehicles navigate obstacles, negotiate shared spaces, avoid deadlocks, and operate efficiently as a fleet.

Requirements: 5+ years of robotics or autonomy engineering experience. Hands-on experience building path planning or trajectory optimization for robots or autonomous vehicles. This is a core requirement. Experience in perception, sensors, or systems integration alone does not meet it. Strong understanding of motion planning algorithms, including non-holonomic planning and the movement constraints of ground vehicles. Strong Python and NumPy skills for numerical computing and algorithm development. Experience taking autonomy software beyond research or simulation into real-world deployment. A BS, MS, or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field. Comfort working with ambiguity, taking technical ownership, and establishing approaches where processes are still developing. Availability to work on-site in San Francisco five days per week, including relocation if needed.

What You'll Do: Develop path and trajectory planning: Build algorithms that help autonomous vehicles navigate obstacles safely while reducing unnecessary stops. Improve intersection management: Determine vehicle crossing sequences that reduce congestion and total wait time. Coordinate multiple vehicles: Plan around intersecting trajectories to prevent conflicts, collisions, and deadlocks. Build fleet planning algorithms: Translate changing site conditions into vehicle assignments and coordinated activity. Support live deployments: Work with controls and systems engineers to evaluate behavior, diagnose issues, and improve performance in the field. Help shape the planning team: Contribute to architecture, technical practices, and the development of new planning capabilities. Some schedule flexibility is required during live testing and deployment phases.

Preferred Qualifications: Motion planning experience with trucks or other non-holonomic ground vehicles. Experience with multi-vehicle coordination, traffic management, or fleet planning. Production engineering experience at a robotics or autonomous vehicle company. C++ programming experience. Familiarity with computational geometry, Shapely, or collision detection. A master's degree or PhD focused on robotics or motion planning.