Senior Staff Software Engineer - Perception & Sensing
- Salary
- USD 324,000 - 389,000 / per-year-salary
- Level
- Staff
- Work type
- On-site · Foster City
Not stated in the posting: visa.
Open. First seen 22 October 2026.
About the role
At Zoox, you will collaborate with a team of world-class engineers with diverse backgrounds in areas such as AI, robotics, mechatronics, planning, control, localization, computer vision, rendering, simulation, distributed computing, design, and automated testing. You’ll master new technologies while working on code, algorithms, and research to impact key systems to move Zoox forward.
Responsibilities
- Lead the Sensor Change Playbook workflow, defining the validation process for our next-generation, low-cost vehicle platforms.
- Partner with PCP V&V to define the Autonomy Technical Specification (ATS) by identifying "bounding" (worst-case) scenarios, particularly those related to winter driving (e.g., heavy snow, ice, sensor occlusion).
- Work with PCP model owners to architect low-cost stacks that reduce reliance on expensive sensors and accommodate reduced compute (e.g., migrating from 8 GPUs to 1 Thor).
- Drive the Clearance MoC (Method of Compliance) process for hardware changes, balancing cost, compute constraints, performance and safety.
Qualifications
- Deep expertise in the PCP Stack, multi-modality fusion, and optimizing architectures for severely constrained compute budgets.
- Experience in V&V (Validation & Verification) for safety-critical systems, specifically expanding into complex Operational Design Domains (ODDs) like winter weather.
- Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders (SDMA, AHE, PCP) to align on cost vs. performance trade-offs.
- The ability or experience of managing or curating datasets for sensor validation or model training
Bonus Qualifications
- Experience with Autonomy Technical Specifications (ATS) and defining winter/adverse weather bounding scenarios.
- Experience working with VLM’s.
About Zoox
Zoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments. We’re looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team.
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Zoox's standard text
Accommodations
If you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to accommodations@zoox.com or your assigned recruiter.
A Final Note:
You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.
What this role asks for
Particular to this role
Computer Vision · Test Automation
Rare in Zoox's other 182 open postings.
In most of Zoox's ads
Machine Learning
Named in most of its open postings, whatever the role.
80% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Zoox's standard text, folded away below.
Compared with Zoox's other open jobs.
The team: Autonomy Software HIRES STEADILY
This role is one of 36 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 (32 of 36), C++ (22 of 36), Python (17 of 36), Computer Vision (12 of 36), Deep Learning (9 of 36), CUDA (6 of 36), LLM (5 of 36)
OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM
- Senior Technical Program Manager - Verification and Validation posted Oct 7
- Manager, Technical Product Management – Autonomy Integration posted Oct 2
- Software Engineer - Planner GPU Compute posted Sep 27
- Senior Software Engineer - Planner GPU Compute posted Sep 25
- 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 Full-stack Engineer - Mapping Web Services posted Jul 7
- 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
- Principal Software Engineer, Perception Architect posted Apr 20
- 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
- Staff 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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