Principal Software Engineer, Robot Software
Wayve · Sunnyvale, California
Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.
We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.
Here’s what this particular role covers.
THE ROLE
As the Principal Software Engineer - Robot Software, you will be a technical partner to the Head of Robot Software within the broader Vehicle Software department. This is a high-visibility role where you will influence the roadmap for Embodied AI platform (e.g. an autonomous vehicle) capabilities and mentor the next generation of technical leaders. You will be responsible for the architectural integrity, scalability, and highly-reliable performance of the software stacks that power our vehicles. Your success in this role is defined by the business success built upon your technical roadmaps, the team's success and consistent alignment during their execution, and the adoption and impact of your processes and guidance by the team.
KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
- Technical Strategy & Vision: Partner with leadership to define a 12-24 month technical roadmap. Chart a course to align, upgrade, and enhance existing systems to meet customer demands and improve internal efficiency. Identify emerging technologies that will keep the company ahead of the curve. Balance the organization’s technical debt against new feature velocity.
- System Architecture: Lead the design of complex, cross-functional systems. You will ensure that the "Robot" layer integrates seamlessly with the broader Embodied AI algorithms (e.g. driving) while maintaining safety and performance constraints.
- Engineering Excellence: Set the bar for code quality, testing rigor, and observability. You’ll lead design reviews for critical components of the stack and "unblock" teams facing deep-seated architectural debt. You will observe common challenges across disparate workstreams (e.g., latency spikes or data serialization bottlenecks) and champion centralized, reusable solutions that benefit the entire Robot Software organization.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Act as the technical bridge between Robot Software and neighboring departments like Hardware, Production Software, Simulation, Application Software, Data Platform, and DevOps to ensure hardware-software parity and efficient data flywheels. Identify dependencies and risks that live in the "seams" between projects ensuring, e.g. that the impacts from a change in the sensor drivers is proactively understood and cascaded by joint analysis with the behaviors and simulation teams.
- Technical Mentorship: Cultivate a culture of excellence. You won't just manage tasks; you will grow Senior and Staff engineers through high-level coaching and by modeling principled decision-making.
- Variable Depth Engagement: Demonstrate the "T-shaped" leadership required to oversee a diverse portfolio of initiatives. This ranges from providing high-level directional steering on long-term R&D projects to performing "deep-dive" investments on critical path blockers. You will calibrate the level of oversight based on project risk, providing "light-touch" architectural consulting for mature systems while embedding deeply with teams launching "zero-to-one" capabilities.
ABOUT YOU
In order to set you up for success as a Principal Software Engineer - Robot Software at Wayve, we’re looking for the following skills and experience.
Essential
- Domain Expertise: Deep experience in Robotics Middleware (ROS2, Cyber RT, or custom IPCs) and Real-Time Systems.
- Languages: Mastery of C++ (17/20) with a focus on memory management and concurrency. Proficiency in Python.
- Architectural Depth: Proven track record of shipping complex autonomous systems, distributed systems, or safety-critical embedded software.
- Problem Solving: Ability to debug "impossible" problems across the boundary of hardware and software.
- Leadership: Exceptional communication skills; ability to explain complex technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.
- Safety Above All: Understands that in the world of self-driving, "moving fast and breaking things" isn't an option.
What sets top candidates apart are their habits, behaviors, and demonstrated past ability to:
- Anticipates Failure: Thinks three steps ahead e.g. about how a change in one sub-system might break the integration of a parallel roadmap six months from now.
- Simplify Complexity: Can take a messy, monolithic codebase and guide the team toward a clean, modular architecture without stopping feature development.
This role is a full-time role based in Sunnyvale, CA (hybrid) and the reasonably estimated salary for this role ranges from $295,500 to $375,100, plus a competitive equity package. Actual compensation is based on the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience.
A quick, honest note before you apply.
Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.
If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you.