We are looking for a Staff Engineer on our Calibration, Localization and Mapping (CLAM) team - a technical leader with deep expertise in state estimation, inertial navigation, and sensed odometry who can set technical direction across the team and organization. In this role, you will: • Set the technical strategy and architecture for our onboard navigation and pose estimation systems. • Lead the design and development of advanced sensor fusion and pose estimation approaches across IMU, camera, and lidar sensors, anticipating failure modes before they arise in the field. • Drive the direction of visual and lidar odometry algorithms, including evaluating build-vs-adopt tradeoffs for new techniques. • Define and evangelize navigation metrics and evaluation methodology used across the org to assess algorithm and system performance. • Serve as a technical escalation point for complex, ambiguous, or cross-cutting localization problems. • Evaluate sensor performance and optimize sensor selection. • Verify correct sensor calibrations, settings, and uncertainty characterizations. What you'll bring: • Strong technical background. BS, MS or PhD with academic or industry experience in building navigation, localization, and odometry systems. • Expert in C++ and strong problem-solving skills. • Strong software engineering skills and experience building high-reliability deployed applications . You write well-designed, highly maintainable code. Code is your craft. • Deep experience transforming raw sensor data from GNSS, IMU, wheel speed, etc. into 6-DOF pose using Kalman Filtering, factor graphs, or comparable state estimation techniques - and judgment on when each approach is appropriate. • Experience with computer vision, visual odometry, and/or odometry from point clouds • A history of mentoring engineers and elevating the technical practices of a team. • A team player. You take ownership and work with the team to deliver exceptional results. You are interested in the performance of the entire system across engineering disciplines. • Ability to build and iterate quickly. You enjoy working fast and smart, and you are comfortable in defining and building lasting infrastructure components from scratch. • Hands on. Curious. Flexible. Interested in new domains to expand your horizons and provide a complete system wide solution. • Great communicator. You have experience writing clear, concise design documentation to gather feedback from across the team to find the best solution. 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 $200,000-$260,000 USD