Staff Software Engineer, Core Middleware Components

Shipping the software that powers Zoox's revolutionary autonomous vehicles is an extremely challenging job. As the Technical Lead of the Robotics Middleware team, you will be pivotal in designing and developing the middleware framework for our autonomous vehicle software stack. This role acts as a multiplier for the entire software organization, seeking opportunities to make the software and engineering teams more efficient and productive. You will regularly tackle complex, cross-functional challenges in the code base that impact multiple teams and provide technical leadership to ensure our stack remains robust, scalable, and safety-critical.
This role demands strong expertise in distributed systems and real-time computing, cross-platform development, and abstraction layer design. You’ll be responsible for driving performance optimization and ensuring efficient, modular, and maintainable code. Your deep debugging and problem-solving skills will support high-quality solutions across our middleware.
Beyond technical skills, this position requires collaborative leadership to influence and drive technical decisions across teams, foster cross-functional collaboration, and mentor other engineers in best practices. Your excellence in technical communication and documentation, coupled with your ability to balance technical precision with practical delivery, will ensure impactful outcomes across Zoox's software organization. Solving the unique challenges of autonomous vehicle software—some of the most complex code ever shipped in a safety-critical environment—makes this one of the most exciting technical challenges of our lifetime.

Responsibilities

• You will lead the technical direction and architecture of our robotics middleware platform
• You will drive the development of platform-agnostic middleware components including software interfaces, task schedulers, data transport layers, diagnostic reporting, and message interfaces
• You will provide technical mentorship and guidance through design reviews and code reviews
• You will collaborate extensively with software teams across the organization to ensure middleware meets all requirements
• You will participate in architecture review boards and technical forums to contribute to technical documentation and establish best practices
• You will maintain a 50/50 balance between hands-on coding and technical leadership and review and approve architecture-level changes that impact the middleware frameworks

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience and 2+ years of technical leadership experience
• Expert-level proficiency in C++ (C++14/17)
• Extensive experience with robotics frameworks/middleware (e.g., ROS/ROS2)
• Strong background in architecting and developing scalable, distributed applications in Linux environments
• Experience with different processor architectures (X86, ARM)
• Proven experience in high-performance, distributed, and resource-constrained software systems and experience with GPU/accelerated computing environments

CompensationThere are three major components to compensation for this position: salary, Amazon Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights. The salary range for this position is $217,000 to $360,000. A sign-on bonus may be offered as part of the compensation package. Compensation will vary based on geographic location and level. Leveling, as well as positioning within a level, is determined by a range of factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's relevant years of experience, domain knowledge, and interview performance. The salary range listed in this posting is representative of the range of levels Zoox is considering for this position. Zoox also offers a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (e.g. sick leave, vacation, bereavement), unpaid time off, Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights, Amazon RSUs, health insurance, long-term care insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance, and life insurance.

About ZooxZoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments. We’re looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team.
Follow us on LinkedIn
AccommodationsIf you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to accommodations@zoox.com or your assigned recruiter.
A Final Note:You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse per