What you'll doWe are looking for a
Robotics Lead to provide technical leadership across the systems that turn perception, prediction, and planning into safe and reliable autonomous vehicle behavior.
You will help define the architecture and technical direction of our robotics stack, working across AI, perception, planning, controls, localization, and vehicle systems. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for someone who understands how complex autonomous systems come together and can drive difficult problems from architecture through real-world deployment.
- Define and drive the technical direction of the robotics and autonomy stack.
- Lead architecture and integration across perception, localization, prediction, planning, controls, and vehicle systems.
- Develop and improve algorithms for motion planning, trajectory generation, decision-making, and vehicle control.
- Own complex system-level problems that span multiple components of the autonomy stack.
- Diagnose real-world autonomy failures and drive improvements across algorithms, software, sensors, and vehicle systems.
- Establish evaluation and validation methodologies that connect component-level performance to vehicle behavior.
- Partner with AI Research and Perception teams to integrate learned models into the broader autonomy system.
- Work closely with software, hardware, firmware, simulation, and vehicle engineering teams to bring autonomous capabilities into production.
- Provide technical mentorship and raise the engineering bar across the robotics organization.
What we're looking for- Significant experience developing robotics, autonomous vehicles, or other complex autonomous systems.
- Deep technical expertise in one or more of:
- Motion planning and trajectory generation
- Prediction and decision-making
- Localization and state estimation
- Controls
- Robotics systems architecture
- Autonomous vehicle systems
- Strong understanding of how perception, planning, localization, controls, and vehicle systems interact within a production autonomy stack.
- Strong programming skills in C++ and/or Python.
- Experience designing and debugging complex real-time robotic systems.
- Demonstrated ability to lead major technical initiatives and make architecture-level decisions.
- Experience taking robotics or autonomy capabilities from development through real-world deployment.
- Strong communication skills and ability to work across highly specialized engineering teams.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience building production autonomous vehicle systems.
- Experience with real-time, safety-critical, or highly reliable robotic systems.
- Knowledge of vehicle dynamics, sensor systems, and embedded or onboard compute.
- Experience with simulation, closed-loop evaluation, and autonomous-system validation.
- Experience integrating machine learning models into robotics or autonomy systems.
- Experience diagnosing long-tail failures using vehicle logs, simulation, and real-world testing.
- Experience mentoring senior engineers or providing technical leadership across multiple teams.
What else you need to knowThis role is based in our San Francisco office. Atoms is a company driven by invention and continuous change - we are constantly reimagining our industries, building new products, and refining how we operate. We do our best work together. That's why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.
The base salary range for this role is
$255,000 - $322,000 per year.Actual compensation will be determined on an individual basis and may vary depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.
Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package. You may also be eligible for equity awards.
Benefits Summary (USA Full-Time Exempt Employees):- Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance
- Flexible Spending Account / Health Savings Account Options
- 401(k)
- Equity
- Sick Time, Unlimited Flexible Time Off, and Paid Holidays
- Paid Parental Leave
- Pre-Tax Commuter Benefit Plan
- Team lunch in our SoMa office every Tuesday and Thursday
Benefits are subject to change at the company's discretion.
Atoms accepts applications on an ongoing basis.
Ready to join us as we serve those who serve others? #LI-Onsite
