Software Engineer, Sensors and System Software (C++, Linux)

Avride•Austin, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Sensors and System Software team develops core software that enables autonomous vehicles to perceive and understand their surroundings. This role integrates sensors and embedded hardware into software pipelines and designs, develops, debugs, and maintains the core software stack. The engineer is expected to build deep expertise in sensors and serve as a resource who can guide teammates toward effective solutions. The work includes developing low-latency sensor drivers and software pipelines, preprocessing and synchronizing sensor data, and creating analysis tools to monitor sensor health and identify performance issues. The engineer writes userspace C++ and Python software for embedded Linux computers, brings new sensors and computers onto the bench and vehicle, and investigates issues spanning software, networks, and hardware. The role collaborates with perception, localization, firmware, hardware, and embedded teams, and participates in the team's support rotation. This position is on site in Austin five days per week because the work involves hardware. Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S.; relocation, sponsorship, and remote work are not offered.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or a related STEM field, or equivalent experience.
At least 2 years of production software-development experience.
At least 1 year of professional C++ software-development experience; modern C++ knowledge including RAII, smart pointers, STL containers, and threads.
Proficiency in modern C++ and Python; working knowledge of Python for scripts and data checks.
Daily use of Linux, including command-line work, building and debugging code, and basic networking concepts such as IP addresses, TCP/UDP, and sockets.
Experience with software that communicates with real hardware, such as a robot, vehicle, drone, embedded board, or device, gained at work, in a research lab, or through a serious project or competition.
Strong problem-solving and debugging skills.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
Ability to work on site in Austin five days per week.
Authorization to work in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

Experience debugging network-related issues using tools such as Wireshark, tcpdump, or ethtool.
Understanding of automotive cameras (including GMSL/FPD-Link), LiDAR, radar, IMU, GNSS, and other sensor technologies, including their operating principles, tradeoffs, limitations, and calibration techniques.
Familiarity with ROS, ROS 2, similar frameworks, robotics middleware, or related communication protocols.
Experience developing drivers or processing software for radar or camera data, or expertise in sensor development.
Experience with real-time embedded systems, asynchronous environments, and multiple real-time, low-latency, safety-critical processes, threads, timers, and interrupts.
Experience with custom Linux-based embedded systems and understanding of kernel-space components of sensor data pipelines.
Understanding of electronic engineering fundamentals sufficient to review embedded-device schematics and designs and support hardware bring-up and debugging.
Experience with automotive hardware interfaces such as CAN, SPI, I2C, PCIe, and Ethernet.
Experience with embedded Linux, drivers, or NVIDIA Jetson.
Any experience working with cameras, LiDAR, radar, IMU, or GNSS.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, optimize, and maintain low-latency, robust device drivers and software pipelines for cameras, LiDAR, radar, IMU, GNSS, microphones, and other autonomous-vehicle sensors and actuators.
Develop and optimize algorithms for timestamping, filtering, and preprocessing sensor data to remove noise, false detections, and artifacts before providing synchronized data to perception and localization subsystems.
Develop and maintain data-analysis pipelines to monitor sensor health, detect out-of-spec behavior early, and identify performance bottlenecks.
Write userspace C++ and Python software for embedded Linux computers in vehicles.
Collaborate with embedded, perception, localization, firmware, and hardware teams to integrate sensors into the autonomous-vehicle platform, ensure sensor performance, and debug hardware- and software-related issues.
Develop expertise in sensor characteristics, parameters, operating principles, and application nuances, and guide team members toward optimal solutions.
Write and maintain C++ software that reads, timestamps, and checks data from cameras, LiDARs, radars, IMUs, and GNSS receivers.
Bring new sensors and computers into the software, both on the bench and on the vehicle.
Diagnose and fix issues spanning software, networking, and hardware, including dropped packets, incorrect timestamps, and devices that stop transmitting.
Write Python tools and tests to check sensor data and help other teams debug.
Take part in the team's support rotation.