AV Simulation Domain Expert; Sr. Principal; US; Remote) or Chicago, IL

What's the role?

HERE Technologies sits at a unique intersection: we own some of the world's most detailed map and drive data, and we are building the generative AI capabilities to turn that spatial intelligence into controllable, high-quality synthetic driving worlds.

We are looking for a rare hybrid profile — someone who combines deep learning expertise in world foundation models, generative video, and transformers with hands‑on AV simulation experience. You understand both how to train and adapt large generative models (think Cosmos, Cosmos‑Transfer, diffusion‑based video models, latent world models) and how to ground them in map data and scenario semantics so the output is actually useful for training and validating perception and planning stacks.

This is not a pure simulation role, and it is not a pure ML research role. It is the bridge between the two — and that bridge is where HERE's differentiation lives.

What you will do:

World Foundation Models & Generative Scenario Synthesis

• Drive the technical direction for map‑grounded world foundation models: how we condition generative video and world models using map data, drive data, and scenario semantics.

• Train, fine‑tune, and adapt generative models (diffusion, latent video, transformer‑based world models) for driving scenario generation, including domain adaptation, cont rollability, and conditioning on structured inputs (maps, trajectories, agent behaviours, weather, lighting).

• Evaluate and extend state‑of‑the‑art foundation models such as NVIDIA Cosmos / Cosmos-Transfer and comparable open-source world models, assessing fit for AV training data generation.

• Own the full ML lifecycle end‑to‑end: data curation, model training, evaluation, iteration, and the path to production‑grade pipelines.

Strategic role

• Lead proof‑of‑concept initiatives demonstrating map‑grounded synthetic scenario generation with key technology partners.

• Define measurable success criteria that go beyond visual realism — focusing on ML training data utility, cont rollability, and sim‑to‑real transfer.

• Deliver POC outcomes with clear GO / PIVOT / NO‑GO recommendations backed by quantitative evidence.

Simulation, Scenario Generation & Sim‑to‑Real

• Bridge generative world models with classical simulation stacks (CARLA, NVIDIA Drive Sim, Alpa Sim) where structured, physics‑grounded scenarios are needed.

• Author and programmatically generate Open SCENARIO/OpenDRIVE definitions that feed both classical simulators and generative pipelines.

• Drive sim‑to‑real strategy: measure domain gap, identify failure modes, and define acceptable thresholds for downstream model training.

Quality Frameworks for Synthetic Training Data

• Define what "good enough" synthetic data means for AV perception and planning: when is photorealism required, when is label consistency sufficient, when does cont rollability matter most?

• Establish validation frameworks combining objective metrics (distribution coverage, label accuracy, FID‑style measures, downstream task performance) with expert evaluation protocols.

• Specify sensor fidelity requirements: noise models, lens distortion, lidar return characteristics — and how generative models should or should not reproduce them.

Technical Collaboration

• Interface with ML research teams on generative model architecture, cont rollability, and conditioning strategies.

• Collaborate with perception and planning teams to ensure synthetic data measurably improves real‑world model performance.

• Translate business requirements into technical feasibility assessments for product and executive stakeholders.

This role requires depth in both deep learning and AV simulation. We are not looking for a pure simulation engineer, and we are not looking for a generalist ML researcher without AV…