Staff Autonomy Software Engineer, Localization

Kodiak Robotics Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous 2024 Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.

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 youll 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.)