Mapping Operations Lead

Applied Intuition•Sunnyvale, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Applied Intuition is seeking a technical lead to drive the day-to-day operations of our mapping team. Maps serve as a foundational interface with autonomous vehicle perception, planning, and localization systems. This is a hands-on leadership role at the intersection of data collection, map production, validation, simulation, and field operations. You'll own the production schedule, lead first-line triage of map and data issues, and serve as the connective tissue between mapping specialists, software engineering, and field operations teams. The right person thrives in a high-throughput environment, brings deep technical judgment, and knows how to keep a team organized and unblocked. You will directly impact AV stack performance. This is an excellent opportunity for professionals with a background in high definition (HD) map creation who are comfortable with technical workflows, iterative feedback cycles, and real-time prioritization in a startup environment.

Requirements

3+ years of experience in HD map production, geospatial data operations, or a closely related field in autonomous vehicles, robotics, or mobility
Demonstrated experience leading or coordinating a team of technical contributors — you don't need a formal management title, but you know how to organize people around a shared workflow
Strong understanding of HD map data formats (e.g., OpenDRIVE, NDS, or proprietary lane-level map schemas) and annotation pipelines to label map elements
Experience working with point cloud data, 3D visualization environments, or lidar-based annotation tools
Familiarity with simulation environments (e.g., CARLA, LGSVL, or internal sim stacks) and how map data feeds into sim validation
Experience analyzing field reports or sensor data to identify map quality issues
Comfort with data tooling — SQL, C++, Python, QGIS, or similar — for pulling reports, querying map data, and building dashboards. AI skills a strong plus.
Excellent written and verbal communication; able to translate technical issues clearly for both specialists and cross-functional partners
Organized, calm under pressure, and energized by the pace of production operations.

Nice To Haves

Experience with LiDAR point clouds and camera-based feature extraction
Experience with standard definition (SD) street network data
Background in AV safety operations or working alongside safety drivers
Familiarity with JIRA or similar tools for tracking production backlogs and Slack for real time communication
Prior experience defining or improving QA/QC standards in a mapping team
Confident working across time zones

Responsibilities

Lead a team of mapping specialists, setting priorities, managing workloads, and maintaining a clear production schedule across concurrent map build and update cycles
Own the weekly and sprint-level production calendar — balancing incoming requests for mapping new areas, improving map quality, and supporting field tests
Run daily standups and triage sessions; escalate blockers quickly and make real-time prioritization decisions based on operational impact to keep the pipeline moving
Mentor specialists, conduct technical reviews of their work, and establish standards for map labeling, QC, acceptance criteria, and documentation
Serve as the primary escalation point for map data issues flagged during map production, validation, or by downstream consumers, including initial triage, creating actionable followup tasks, and routing to maps and engineering teams for resolution
Build and maintain a triage playbook so the team can classify and resolve common issues consistently and quickly
Coordinate with engineers to validate HD map accuracy in simulation environments and close gaps before map releases
Close the loop with operations and safety teams so field feedback quickly improves map coverage and quality