Autonomy Engineer Bay Area

TAR’s mission is to power intelligence for the world. We are building the world’s first off-grid power plant for data centers powered by renewable technologies.

We firmly believe AI should be built in the US for the benefit of all people. For that, power must be fast, clean and scalable. We are singularly focused on delivering GW-scale power faster than anyone has ever done, by rethinking every layer of the stack.

We vertically integrate to solve every bottleneck, from racking systems to power electronics to dispatch algorithms to on-site construction.

Leave your mark on the future of civilization-scale energy infrastructure.

TAR is both a hardware and software company, we are building out massive, critical, physical infrastructure. TAR is working directly with one of the largest compute providers to scale and deploy 5GWs by 2028.

• High ownership. High Agency. Own project end-to-end. Great people don’t need to be managed.
• Speed. We achieve great things on incredible timelines. We push ourselves to go faster.
• First principles. No ego. No hierarchy. Challenge every assumption.
• Passion. Solving the energy problem is one of the largest challenges that faces the world now and in the future.

As a Staff Autonomy Engineer, you will build critical autonomy software and help shape the technical direction of the stack that runs TAR's robots, from on-machine perception, planning, and controls to the fleet layer that coordinates many machines on one site.

You will own a core technical area and solve problems across the autonomy stack and its hardware, working with leadership and the robotics, hardware, and field teams to set priorities, make architectural decisions, and turn ambiguous needs into concrete engineering work.

Writing production code, debugging on real hardware, and validating results in the field are central to the role. You will also mentor engineers and help the team make better technical decisions.

The role is based at our San Francisco engineering office, with West Texas occasional travel as needed.

• Design, implement, and operate safety critical autonomy software across perception, localization, planning, and controls. Tune safety, reliability, and operational flow so that it adapts to construction and power sites with humans and other robots.
• Own a part of the autonomy stack. Identify dependencies, sequence work, and make the consequences of competing priorities explicit.
• Turn ambiguous needs into concrete technical proposals with clear scope, alternatives, and a practical path to delivery.
• Influence architectural decisions across connected systems, such as how perception, planning, and controls share state and how the fleet layer deconflicts machines on one site. Establish clear interfaces while preserving ownership within individual engineering areas.
• Communicate tradeoffs with mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing counterparts. Define how software exchanges telemetry and commands with the machine, handles communication failures, and passes testing before deployment.
• Improve simulation, CI, testing, and release practices so the team validates changes before they reach a machine.
• When needed, spend time at the West Texas site, closing the loop between field performance and software fixes.
• Mentor engineers through design discussions, code reviews, and collaborative problem-solving. Contribute to hiring and help develop technical judgment across the team.

• Typically 8+ years of production engineering experience, including ownership of robotics systems at scale and leadership of complex technical projects. We also welcome candidates with fewer years who can demonstrate comparable scope and impact.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science,…