Senior Software Development Engineer, Motion Planning - Autonomous Vehicles

at Nvidia

📍 Santa Clara, United States

USD 184,000-356,500 per year

SENIOR

✅ On-site

Tech Stack
Tag name is followed by "@" symbol and proficiency level value. About proficiency levels:

1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;

3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;

7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;

10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.

AI Algorithms @ 3 Git @ 4 Jenkins @ 4 Jira @ 4 Mathematics @ 7 Performance Optimization @ 6 Software Development @ 4

Details

NVIDIA is seeking an experienced motion planning senior software development engineer to develop key features for its autonomous driving platform. The role focuses on trajectory planning and motion planning problems, building software solutions, and collaborating with established teams to design and mature products through production.

Responsibilities

Lead the entire feature lifecycle, driving motion planning solutions from initial design through productization and deployment.
Model L2, L3, and L4 vehicle behaviors and driving modes as optimal-control problems.
Integrate perception and prediction data, along with user-comfort preferences, through collaboration with prediction and behavior planning teams.
Enhance driving behavior and overall product quality through continuous issue triage with product and user-experience engineers.
Improve optimization solver performance using instruction parallelization and memory optimization techniques.

Requirements

8+ years of relevant experience in computer science, computer engineering, or a related technical field.
Proven ability to develop high-quality C++ software within large, collaborative codebases.
Experience with Git, Gerrit, JIRA, and Jenkins collaboration environments.
Strong applied mathematics skills, including linear algebra, differential equations, numerical methods, and convex optimization.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience contributing to product development in the autonomous driving industry.
Expertise in constrained optimization-based trajectory generation for vehicle dynamics and performance optimization for in-car deployment.
Familiarity with advanced motion planning algorithms, including lattice-based planners, hybrid A*, D*, and RRTs.

Compensation and Benefits

The expected base salary ranges are USD 184,000–287,500 for Level 4 and USD 224,000–356,500 for Level 5. Compensation is determined based on location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The role also includes eligibility for equity and benefits.

Applications will be accepted at least until November 13, 2026. This posting is for an existing vacancy. NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes and is an equal opportunity employer.