Software Engineer, Motion Planning

Expected compensation: 96.78 USD Per Hour

Hire Art is helping our client find a Software Engineer, Motion Planning, to develop, test, and improve autonomous driving behaviors that directly impact vehicle safety, comfort, and performance.

In this role, you’ll design, implement, and validate motion planning algorithms that govern how autonomous vehicles behave in real-world environments. You’ll work closely with senior engineers and cross-functional partners to translate planning concepts into reliable, production-ready software, and you’ll help evaluate performance through simulation and on-vehicle testing.

The ideal candidate is technically strong, curious, and comfortable working in complex, real-time systems where safety and correctness are critical.

• Implement, debug, and test features that modify and improve vehicle driving behavior in the production codebase.
• Work closely with senior engineers to understand design specifications and deliver high-quality, maintainable code.
• Use internal simulation and backend tooling to run regression tests and validate changes across diverse driving scenarios.
• Analyze planning behavior and performance data to identify issues and guide iterative improvements.
• Participate in on-vehicle drive reviews to help collect data and generate actionable feedback on driving performance.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, robotics, or a related technical field
• 5+ years of professional software development experience
• Strong proficiency in modern C++
• Familiarity with motion planning and pathfinding fundamentals (e.g., A*, RRT, PRM)
• Experience working in large codebases with version control systems such as Git
• Ability and eagerness to debug complex, real-time systems

• Coursework or project experience in geometric and/or sampling-based planning algorithms
• Experience with autonomous vehicles, robotics, or simulation environments
• Familiarity with ROS, pose estimation, SLAM, probabilistic filtering, or CUDA

• Pre-tax commuter benefits
• Employer (Hire Art) Subsidized healthcare benefits (eligibility begins on the first of the month following 60 days of service)
• Flexible Spending Account for healthcare-related costs
• Hire Art covers all costs for short and long-term disability and life insurance
• 401k package

Commitment: This is a full-time, ongoing contract position staffed via Hire Art. The role is hybrid, requiring three days per week onsite, and is available to candidates local to the Foster City, CA area.

Hire Art values diversity and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. Unfortunately, we are not able to sponsor visas or employ corp-to-corp.