Sr. Staff Engineer, Motion Planning and Controls, Autonomous Driving

The role

This role supports the auto-parking and low-speed autonomy stack. You will focus on trajectory optimization, path smoothing, and local planning for features like Auto Park, Summon, and Park-to-Park.

What you will do

• Develop and enhance trajectory optimization algorithms for low-speed scenarios
• Design and implement constraint-aware optimization
• Improve local planners to generate control-friendly trajectories
• Refactor and scale planning stack architecture
• Optimize CPU usage and explore parallel/GPU acceleration opportunities
• Improve system-level behaviors like stability and scalability
• Investigate and resolve real-world issues like curvature discontinuities and steering behavior
• Validate solutions using simulation and vehicle logs
• Evaluate and prototype new approaches like learned models and ML-based planning
• Drive technical discussions and share algorithm insights across teams

Required qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Robotics, Control, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of software development experience in autonomous driving, ADAS, or robotics
• Experience with large-scale data and real-time systems
• Strong programming skills in C/C++
• Solid understanding of software engineering design principles and best practices
• Proven track record of delivering ADAS/AD features through the full production lifecycle
• Hands-on experience with software integration on embedded platforms (e.g., NVIDIA Xavier/Orin, Infineon Aurix)
• Ability to build reliable production-grade systems
• Leadership experience

Nice to have

• ML-based planning approaches
• GPU or parallel computing for planning
• Track record of production deployment in real vehicles

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Life and disability coverage
• Paid time off
• Paid holidays
• Paid sick leave
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Salaried/exempt employees accrue up to 160 hours paid time off
• Hourly/non-exempt employees accrue up to 120 hours paid time off
• Equity program
• Discretionary annual cash incentive program

About the company

Lucid creates luxury electric vehicles through deep vertical integration. The company focuses on proprietary technology and software-defined vehicle architecture.