Senior Software Engineer; Planning

Founded in 2014, Oxa is a global leader in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, dedicated to accelerating Industrial Mobile Autonomy (IMA).

We develop advanced physical AI and robotics technology, anchored around our configurable and explainable self-driving software, Oxa Driver; development toolchain, Oxa Foundry; and fleet management software, Oxa Hub. We utilise hardware blueprints known as Reference Autonomy Designs (RADs) to enable the integration of sensors, compute and drive‑by‑wire systems into existing vehicles produced by OEMs.

Our solutions automate repetitive industrial driving tasks, such as the towing and carrying of goods in locations like ports, airports and manufacturing facilities, or asset and perimeter monitoring in environments such as solar farms or industrial plants. We’re helping global businesses to address critical challenges like labour shortages and rising operational costs - driving efficiency, productivity, and safety.

Based in Oxford, and with offices in Canada, our engineering team is drawn from the world’s top physical AI specialists and led by originators of the field.

You will join our Planning Team, where we design, implement, test and deploy the Engine that drives the behaviour of Oxa’s Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), based on our understanding of our environment.

As a Senior Software Engineer in Decision Making, you will be responsible for designing, implementing, testing, and deploying algorithms that realise the desired behaviours that the AV needs to exhibit in any particular scenario. Specifically, this role will focus on route/behavior planning with imperfect information of other actors and the environment.

• Provide technical leadership in the development, integration, and deployment of algorithms that enable AVs to navigate complex on‑road environments. You will be a key contributor working closely with your team lead and shaping the development of the Oxa Driver.
• Take ownership of the Route Planner to incorporate longer‑term and higher‑level mission objectives in collaboration with Trajectory Planning and Hub team
• Develop the Engine that reasons over discrete actions and interactions with other actors, based on multi‑hypothesis predictions
• Create appropriate metrics and tools to measure and protect existing and newly developed planner features
• Contribute significantly to the engineering lifecycle, including scoping, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance of your team's work.
• Contribute to the exploration and incorporation of automatic coding systems to existing developer workflows.
• Document and train others on your team's work, focus on improving features, and understand the business and customer value of your team's work.
• Contribute to hiring and onboarding at scale by defining role responsibilities and requirements, leading interviews, engaging in recruiting outreach for your team, and mentoring and developing new team members.

• PhD in related field (Mech Eng, Aerospace, Comp Science, Robotics, Mechatronics) with additional professional experience is desired
• MS in related field (Mech Eng, Aerospace, Comp Science, Robotics, Mechatronics) with extensive professional experience
• Practical experience with Behaviour Planning, Decision Making and Trajectory Planning, preferably in Self Driving
• A deep understanding of Robotics Fundamentals, including:
• Robotics architectures
• 2D/3D Geometry & transformations
• Mechanics, kinematics, and dynamics
• Probabilistic reasoning and uncertainty representation
• Exposure to automated decision making (e.g., voting schemes, lexicographical ordering, etc).
• A proven track record of independent development and delivery
• Modern C++ algorithm development and deployment in a production environment (including STL and common testing frameworks)
• Understanding of trajectory optimisation techniques
• Technical leadership and people leadership / management experience
• Experience with Machine Learning
• Exposure to safety certification standards and processes
• Proven agility in fast‑changing environments. As a scale‑up, we’re constantly evolving so our people need to evolve too for us to…