HIL Platform, Senior Software Engineer

Aurora Innovation•Pittsburgh, PA

About The Position

Aurora hires talented people with diverse backgrounds who are ready to help build a transportation ecosystem that will make our roads safer, get crucial goods where they need to go, and make mobility more efficient and accessible for all. We’re searching for a Senior Software Engineer to join the HIL Platform team . This team is the backbone of Aurora’s safety mission, building the "flight simulator" for autonomous vehicles that allows us to validate the Aurora Driver on physical hardware at an unprecedented scale. We are hiring to evolve our testing platforms into a highly automated, "productized" ecosystem, offering you the chance to solve complex systems-level challenges that directly impact the deployment of autonomous Class 8 trucks. In this role you will Architect and Develop Core HIL Software: Design and implement high-performance, real-time software interfaces and drivers that bridge the gap between our autonomy stack and various hardware test rigs. Build Scalable Tooling, APIs, and Cloud Integration: Develop the platform layer of HIL, creating robust APIs and automation frameworks in cloud environments that allow other engineering teams to easily schedule, execute, and analyze hardware-locked tests. Lead Technical Design Reviews: Act as a technical authority within the team, evaluating trade-offs in system architecture, communication protocols, and simulation fidelity to ensure long-term platform stability. Optimize System Performance: Debug complex, low-level integration issues involving latency, jitter, and synchronization across distributed hardware components (sensors, ECUs, and compute units). Mentor Junior Engineers: Drive engineering excellence by conducting rigorous code reviews, documenting architectural patterns, and mentoring mid-level and junior peers on the team.

Requirements

5+ years of professional software development experience building complex, low-latency systems or high-scale infrastructure products.
Expert-level proficiency in Modern C++ (14/17/20): Deep understanding of memory management, multi-threading, and performance optimization.
Systems-Level Scripting: Strong experience with Python or Golang for building automation pipelines, CLI tools, or data processing services.
Experience with Systems Integration: Proven track record of developing software that interacts with physical devices, hardware peripherals, or complex networking protocols.
Linux Mastery: Expert knowledge of the Linux environment, including kernel-space/user-space communication, drivers, and system-level troubleshooting.
Familiarity with Cloud Services: Experience managing cloud infrastructure and observability tools, balancing the need for a smooth user experience against challenging physical hardware constraints.

Nice To Haves

Robotics or AV Experience: Familiarity with ROS (Robot Operating System), middleware communication (Protobuf, ZeroMQ), or autonomous vehicle sensor suites.
Automotive Protocols: Prior exposure to CAN-bus, CAN-FD, Automotive Ethernet, or J1939 standards.
Real-Time Systems: Experience with RTOS (FreeRTOS, QNX) or Linux real-time patches (PREEMPT_RT).
Platform-as-a-Product Mindset: Experience in DevOps, Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Docker), or building developer-facing tools in a cloud environment (AWS/GCP).

Responsibilities

Architect and Develop Core HIL Software: Design and implement high-performance, real-time software interfaces and drivers that bridge the gap between our autonomy stack and various hardware test rigs.
Build Scalable Tooling, APIs, and Cloud Integration: Develop the platform layer of HIL, creating robust APIs and automation frameworks in cloud environments that allow other engineering teams to easily schedule, execute, and analyze hardware-locked tests.
Lead Technical Design Reviews: Act as a technical authority within the team, evaluating trade-offs in system architecture, communication protocols, and simulation fidelity to ensure long-term platform stability.
Optimize System Performance: Debug complex, low-level integration issues involving latency, jitter, and synchronization across distributed hardware components (sensors, ECUs, and compute units).
Mentor Junior Engineers: Drive engineering excellence by conducting rigorous code reviews, documenting architectural patterns, and mentoring mid-level and junior peers on the team.