Senior Principal Planning & Control Engineer

As the Senior Principal Planning & Control Engineer, you will be the technical anchor and visionary for motion planning and control. You will architect, design, and deliver the systems that allow autonomous platforms to navigate safely, smoothly, and predictably in complex urban environments. This is a hands-on role with broad technical ownership, setting direction and standards for planning and control while driving the development of production-grade solutions.

Technical Leadership & Strategy

Own the technical vision and roadmap for motion planning and control, from behavioral planning through trajectory generation and vehicle actuation.

Architect a scalable, production-grade planning and control stack tailored to the challenges.

Lead technical design reviews and set the standard for developing verifiable and safety-critical software, regardless of the underlying methodology.

Hands-on Development & Implementation

Lead development of planning algorithms for real-time, online replanning, including behavior selection, constrained optimization, trajectory generation, and interaction-aware motion planning.

Develop robust control algorithms to ensure vehicle stability, comfort, and safety under real-world constraints.

Develop high-fidelity simulation and validation frameworks to rigorously test and harden the planning and control modules.

Own the lifecycle of algorithms: specification, design, implementation, testing (simulation, SIL/HIL), and deployment.

Essential Skills

Extensive experience in robotics, with a focus on motion planning, trajectory optimization, or control for autonomous systems.

Proven experience designing, building, and shipping production-grade planning and/or control systems for autonomy, ADAS, or complex robotics.

Expert-level proficiency in modern C++ and Python for real-time, resource-constrained applications.

Deep expertise in several of: trajectory generation, model predictive control (MPC), behavior planning, interaction-aware planning, or vehicle dynamics modeling.

Deep expertise in decision-making under uncertainty, with experience leveraging probabilistic inputs from perception and prediction systems.

Hands-on experience with simulation frameworks, SIL/HIL testing, and validation of safety-critical systems.

Demonstrated leadership in architecture and design of complex, safety-critical software systems.

BS/MS/PhD in CS, EE, Robotics, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Skills

Experience with machine learning approaches to planning or behavior modeling (e.g., imitation learning, reinforcement learning, or hybrid systems).

Experience with interfaces across the autonomy stack (planning, perception, prediction, control, vehicle integration).

Knowledge of vehicle actuation systems, drive-by-wire, and dynamics constraints.

Experience with safety frameworks (e.g., ISO 26262, SOTIF) and evidence-driven readiness gates.

Familiarity with large-scale simulation, scenario-based testing, and performance benchmarking.

Publications or patents in top-tier robotics or control venues (e.g., ICRA, IROS, RSS, CoRL).