Kodiak Robotics

Senior Vehicle Integration Engineer - Field Support

Kodiak Robotics$180K — $210K *
Transportation
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years in vehicle integration or technical support roles for autonomous systems
  • Proven hardware/software debugging and assembly experience, ideally in robotics
  • Strong troubleshooting skills covering electrical, mechanical, and software domains
  • Experience with automotive embedded electronics and communication protocols
  • Familiarity with Linux and terminal-based diagnostic tools
  • Scripting/programming skills in languages such as Python, C++, or Bash
  • Excellent communication skills capable of interacting with diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

  • Respond to field failures and technical support requests for system uptime
  • Travel to customer sites to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues
  • Lead root cause analysis across hardware and software domains
  • Drive corrective actions to prevent repeat failures
  • Support design changes through testing and integration at customer sites
  • Define technical requirements based on operational needs and failure data
  • Improve diagnostic strategies and recommend reliability enhancements.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans, including infertility benefits
  • Flexible PTO and generous parental leave policies
  • Office perks including dog-friendly environment and free catered lunch
  • Wellbeing benefits, including mental health resources and gym memberships
  • 401(k) plan and various incentive programs, such as referral bonuses.
Full Job Description
We are looking for a Senior Vehicle Integration Engineer with a field support focus to keep our deployed autonomous systems running at customer sites. You'll own fleet uptime, lead root cause investigations, and act as the technical bridge between customers, field operations, and product engineering - working across hardware, software, firmware, and systems integration to resolve issues fast and drive long-term reliability. In this role, you will: - Respond rapidly to field failures and technical support requests to maintain system uptime - Travel frequently to customer and deployment sites to troubleshoot and resolve complex issues (min. 30% travel expected) - Lead cross-functional root cause analysis (RCA) across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and software domains - Drive corrective and preventive actions to eliminate repeat failures - Support implementation of design changes through prototyping, validation testing, and integration at customer sites - Source and define technical requirements for field-facing hardware and integration designs based on real-world failure data and operational needs - Improve diagnostic strategies and tooling to detect and isolate failure modes more rapidly, and recommend reliability enhancements based on operational performance data - Perform preventative, corrective, and predictive maintenance on autonomous platforms - Provide direct design feedback to product and hardware engineering teams grounded in hands-on field experience - Create and review documentation including schematics, drawings, build instructions, and troubleshooting guides What you'll bring: - Strong bias toward action. You take ownership of ambiguous problems, move quickly to contain issues, and deliver results without waiting for perfect clarity. - Hands on. You are just as comfortable with a wrench as a keyboard. Proven experience debugging and assembling complex hardware/software systems, ideally in autonomous vehicles, robotics, or similarly advanced systems. - Systems thinker. Strong troubleshooting ability across electrical, mechanical, and software domains. Deep familiarity with automotive and embedded electronics, including communication protocols such as Ethernet, CAN, LIN, and 100BASE-T1. - Design-minded. Track record of contributing to hardware or systems design reviews with practical, implementation-focused feedback. You translate field observations and failure trends into actionable design requirements. - Comfort operating in Linux environments and using terminal-based diagnostic tools. - Experience with scripting or programming languages such as Python, C++, C, Bash, or ROS. - Ability to independently solve complex, novel technical problems with minimal guidance. - Great communicator. Strong written and verbal skills across diverse audiences - you can explain a firmware bug to a customer and write a clear troubleshooting guide for the field team. What we offer: - Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses - Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits) - MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance - Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies - Our office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA - Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging - Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance - Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation) - Fidelity 401(k) - Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA - Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.) The pay range listed below reflects the base salary in our SF/Silicon Valley location, across several internal levels. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors including: work location, experience, relevant training, education, skill level and performance during interview. Total compensation at Kodiak includes base pay, equity, bonus and a competitive benefits package California Pay Range $180,000-$210,000 USD

About Kodiak Robotics

Kodiak Robotics is a startup that is developing autonomous trucks for long-haul freight transportation. The company was founded in 2018 by Don Burnette and Paz Eshel, both former employees of the self-driving truck company Otto. Kodiak's trucks use a combination of sensors, cameras, and software to navigate highways and other roads without a human driver. The company has raised $40 million in funding from investors including Battery Ventures and CRV. Kodiak is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has a testing facility in North Texas.
Learn more about Kodiak Robotics
Size
101 employees
Market Cap
$347.1 million
Industry
Net Income
-$133.1 million
Founded
2016
NASDAQ

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