Director, Autonomous Vehicles Platform

Details

The AI-powered autonomous vehicle industry depends on robust software stacks, with Vehicle and Sensor Abstraction Layers (VAL/SAL) serving as critical interfaces between autonomous driving software and physical vehicle systems. This role leads the architecture and development of abstraction layers connecting low-level sensor inputs and actuator commands to scalable real-world hardware integrations, enabling real-time autonomy at scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead the VAL and SAL teams, designing and developing software abstractions and plugin frameworks for vehicle and sensor systems.
• Build efficient, user-friendly mechanisms to improve software integration across a wide range of vehicles and sensor configurations.
• Develop component abstraction layers, sensor and actuator interfaces, and inter-process data sharing and communication systems.
• Strengthen software frameworks and components through real-world and synthetic testing to improve computational performance and system utilization.
• Perform in-vehicle tests, collect and analyze sensor and vehicle data, and support autonomous driving missions.
• Develop unit tests and documentation for key features, evaluate software quality, and propose corrective actions in alignment with industry best practices.
• Develop highly efficient, production-quality C++ code and use parallel computing capabilities through GPGPU and CUDA to accelerate processing workloads.
• Follow industry safety and quality standards, including MISRA and other automotive-grade software development practices.

Requirements

• MS or higher in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related engineering field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 15 years of relevant industry experience and at least 8 years of team management experience.
• Excellent C and C++ programming skills.
• Experience developing and debugging multithreaded and distributed applications, such as multimedia systems or game engines.
• Strong knowledge of programming and debugging techniques for parallel and distributed architectures.
• Strong knowledge of Linux, Android, and/or other real-time operating systems.
• Experience with robotics frameworks such as ROS and/or multimedia frameworks such as GStreamer.
• Ability to write low-latency, highly performant code.
• Excellent communication and analytical skills.
• Self-motivated and able to work effectively as part of a team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Understanding of embedded architectures and software development for heterogeneous architectures, including GPUs.
• Knowledge of automotive systems, including ADAS applications, AUTOSAR, and drive-by-wire systems.
• Software development experience with modern OpenGL Core Profile and Linux.
• Experience with Git and build systems such as CMake or Bazel.
• Ability to work hands-on with algorithm, software, and hardware engineers, with strong attention to detail and data organization and presentation.

Benefits

The role includes eligibility for equity and benefits.