Sensors Team Lead

Waabi • Pittsburgh, PA

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech. With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. Waabi is a technology start-up building technologies to transform the way the world moves. Join our talented team to be a part of the future and to make an impact! Waabi is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all our employees. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, age, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, caregiver status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We make workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in related hands-on experience with Lidar, Radar and Camera, preferably in autonomous vehicles or robotics.
• 5+ years in a leadership role
• Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mechatronics, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Proven experience in leading technical teams in sensor development, validation, or integration for complex systems.
• Deep technical knowledge of automotive or robotics sensors (Lidar, Radar, Cameras).
• Demonstrated ability to drive technical strategy and roadmap development.
• Experience in developing sensor requirements and managing vendor relationships.
• Strong problem-solving skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Open-minded and collaborative team player with a willingness to assist others.
• Passionate about self-driving technologies, tackling complex problems, and creating innovative solutions.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with GNSS and/or IMU.
• Technical experience in developing self-driving vehicles.

Responsibilities

• Driving the technical direction and creating the overall strategy/roadmap for Waabi.
• Developing a technical plan that aligns with the development of the Waabi Driver over multiple generations and stages of maturity for different verticals.
• Maintaining strategic technical relationships with all sensor vendors to stay informed on the latest technologies and options.
• Leading the comprehensive testing and evaluation of new sensor samples utilizing test fixtures and the Sensor Mule vehicle along with the development of the related tooling to support.
• Driving the development of Waabi Sensor Requirements in collaboration with the Systems and Hardware Systems teams.
• Overseeing the entire sensor integration pipeline, ensuring raw data is correctly ingested into the compute platform.
• Managing sensor configuration to align with optimized settings (resolution, frame rate, FOV) provided by the Autonomy & AI team.
• Implementing systems for monitoring data integrity, identifying issues such as corrupt data, latency, or environmental interference.
• Defining standards for what constitutes a ‘clean sensor’ and developing validation methods, supporting the development of event-based cleaning triggers in coordination with Autonomy & AI.
• Working closely with Autonomy & AI on application-level monitoring of data quality to support overall autonomy performance.
• Collaborating with the Sim team to build accurate sensor simulation models and validate them through rigorous testing.
• Providing technical direction and leadership to the team, ensuring cohesion and alignment with the overarching technical strategy.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation and equity awards.
• Health and Wellness benefits encompassing Medical, Dental and Vision coverage (for full-time employees only).
• Unlimited Vacation.
• Flexible hours and Work from Home support.
• Daily drinks, snacks and catered meals (when in office).
• Regularly scheduled team building activities and social events both on-site, off-site & virtually.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior