Senior Staff Software Engineer, Spatial AI
- Salary
- USD 410,000 - 492,000 / per-year-salary
- Level
- Staff
- Work type
- Hybrid · Seattle
Not stated in the posting: visa.
Open. First seen 22 October 2026.
About the role
Be the visionary Perception Architect designing the sensory "nervous system" for our next generation of autonomous products. Evolve our end-to-end perception architecture, serving as the essential liaison between Sensing teams and the core ML system. Drive architectural evolution toward next-generation sensing and compute platforms by influencing Hardware-Software Co-Design.
In this role, you will:
- System Synthesis: Define the end-to-end perception architecture—assess new sensing (LiDAR, Radar, Camera) to the final fused world model.
- Hardware-Software Co-Design: Partner with Compute and Sensing teams to influence the design, ensuring our algorithms have the "computational oxygen" they need.
- Algorithmic Strategy: Lead the transition from current pipelines to AI innovation pipelines, while maintaining the safety and interpretability required for edge deployment.
- Future-Proofing: Evaluate emerging technologies and determine their viability for the 3-5 year roadmap.
- Performance Budgeting: Collaborate on rigorous metrics for latency and accuracy across diverse edge-computing environments.
- Lead cross functional teams: to create a viable plan to move to new platforms and unlock further technical capabilities for Perception systems. Coordinate projects across partner teams to make sure work is aligned with the overall org direction.
Qualifications
- Education: Ph.D. or MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with a focus on Computer Vision.
- Experience: 8+ years in autonomous systems with at least 2 years in an architectural role, shipping and evolving perception systems
- Deep Domain Expertise: Mastery of systems focused on Computer Vision, Deep learning, Foundational models, Sensor Fusion, and State Estimation (SLAM, EKF/UKF). Deep understanding of sensor modalities and their impact to perception/autonomy systems, including: Camera, lidar, radar.
- Platform Proficiency: Deep understanding of hardware acceleration, component budgeting and transition to new platforms.
- Mathematical Rigor: Strong foundation in 3D geometry, linear algebra, and probabilistic robotics.
- Hands on Skills: Proficiency in C++ (production-grade) and Python (rapid prototyping). Ability to run experiments across system components and run metrics platforms.
- Soft Skills: Curious, Data driven, with ability to translate complex technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders and executive leadership.
What this role asks for
Particular to this role
Computer Vision · Deep Learning
Rare in Zoox's other 177 open postings.
Standard for software engineering roles
Python
Common in software engineering postings at any company.
Compared with Zoox's other open jobs.
The team: Autonomy Software HIRES STEADILY
This role is one of 37 open in Autonomy Software. 5 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in February: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.
WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS
Machine Learning (33 of 37), C++ (22 of 37), Python (18 of 37), Computer Vision (14 of 37), Deep Learning (10 of 37), LLM (6 of 37), CUDA (5 of 37)
OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM
- Staff / Senior Staff Software Engineer - Collision Avoidance System posted Nov 4
- Senior/Staff Technical Product Manager, Operational Design Domain (ODD) Tools posted Oct 29
- Machine Learning Engineer - Vision Foundation Models posted Oct 27
- Senior/Staff Software-Hardware Integration Technical Program Manager - Autonomy posted Oct 20
- Senior Technical Program Manager - Verification and Validation posted Oct 7
- Manager, Technical Product Management – Autonomy Integration posted Oct 2
- Senior Manager, Perception Data posted Sep 23
- Data Scientist - Perception Verification and Validation posted Sep 9
- Software Engineer - Collision Avoidance System Metrics posted Sep 3
- Senior Staff / Principal Software Engineer - Freeway Autonomy posted Aug 31
- Senior Software Engineer - Mapping Web posted Aug 28
- Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager - Autonomy Behaviors posted Aug 24
- Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Perception 3D Segmentation posted Jul 17
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Machine Learning & System Optimization posted Jun 30
- Software Engineer - Mapping Data Software posted Jun 18
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Planner Frameworks Pipeline posted Jun 16
- Software Engineer - Planner Frameworks Pipeline posted May 12
- Software Engineer - Driving Behavior posted May 12
- Senior Data Scientist - Verification & Validation posted Mar 27
- Manager, Technical Program Management - Artificial Intelligence posted Feb 20
- Software Engineering Manager - Perception Occupancy posted Feb 3
- Software Engineer - Mission Planning posted Jan 9
- Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Behavior Models for Road Users posted Dec 17
- Senior / Staff Software Engineer - Motion Planning posted Nov 5
- Senior Staff / Principal Machine Learning Engineer - Autonomy Behaviors posted Nov 4
- Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager - Artificial Intelligence posted Oct 21
- Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Perception posted May 20
- Software Engineer - Road Network Tools posted Mar 25
- Software Engineer - Behavior Capabilities posted Dec 2
- Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Perception posted Nov 12
- Software Engineer - Learned Trajectory Machine Learning Engineer posted Nov 7
- Senior / Staff Software Engineer - Learned Trajectory Machine Learning Engineer posted Nov 7
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Behavior Capabilities posted Jul 15
- Senior Staff Software Engineer - Perception & Sensing posted May 3
- Data Scientist - Behavior Evaluation posted May 4
- Software Engineer - Motion Planning posted Feb 8
From the team and dates on Zoox's own job board.
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