Senior Engineer Team Lead - Trajectory Optimization, Motion Planning Controls

As a Technical Lead Manager at Motional, you'll lead a team responsible for the development and delivery of core trajectory generation algorithms via numerical optimization for fully autonomous vehicles. This role embodies our company values, reflecting our commitment to collaboration, safety, diversity and inclusion, ownership, and delivering the future. This role will require finding the right balance between state-of-the-art algorithms and real-world constraints to develop safe and reliable software. Our trajectory optimization team works closely with the behavior planning and trajectory tracking teams as well as other teams including Planning, Prediction, Perception, Localization, Systems Engineering, and Safety. If you are passionate about bringing real autonomous driving to the world through engineering excellence in trajectory optimization, software development, and team execution, we are interested in hearing from you!

Role Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team within our motion control organization, being responsible for trajectory optimization.
• Coordinate with other leads to provide technical leadership, making consequential decisions on architectural direction, strategic investments, tactical execution, and technical debt reduction.
• Deliver next-generation autonomous driving trajectory generation system with a focus on safety, from design, prototyping, testing, and deployment, to production.
• Embrace a metrics-driven approach in the development and improvement of technical components.
• Push boundaries of existing proven trajectory generation methods to enable data-driven approaches.
• Celebrate diversity and inclusion in products and people.
• Mentor and provide feedback (technical, professional) to team members, fostering an inclusive and collaborative environment.
• Be self-motivated to generate new ideas, provide a vision for the team, and consider our robotaxi system as a whole.
• Implement/review algorithms and code, applying practical and rigorous engineering methods.
• Work with project managers to roadmap and execute plans on schedule.

 

Experience to Bring:

• Proven track record of delivering production-quality algorithms for autonomous trajectory generation/control in a leading role.
• Masters or PhD in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
• Expertise in optimal control and numerical optimization.
• C++ software development, Linux, Python, continuous improvement processes, version control.
• Theoretical knowledge and engineering experience in motion planning under uncertainty, and interaction with dynamic agents and environment.
• Familiarity with robotics algorithms in localization, perception, motion planning, and controls for autonomous systems.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and management skills.

 

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process. 

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range$168,000—$225,000 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’