Senior Staff / Principal Software Engineer - Freeway Autonomy

Number of employees

4100

Foster City, CA

Posted on: 2026-08-31

Category: emobility

Ready to make this your next chapter?

Let zoox know you found them on WorkInGreen. It helps more companies post climate jobs here.

Employment type:

Full time

Experience required:

Senior

Salary

$340,000.00 - $493,000.00

About the company:

Zoox is transforming mobility-as-a-service by developing a fully autonomous, purpose-built fleet designed for AI to drive and humans to enjoy.


Zoox is on an ambitious journey to develop a full-stack autonomous robotaxi solution, and freeways are the next frontier. We are looking for a Senior Staff or Principal Software Engineer who has played a significant role in removing the driver from an autonomous vehicle operating on freeways, and who can help Zoox navigate that same journey. You will bring deep technical expertise in a relevant autonomy domain — the specific domain is flexible — along with the hard-won judgment that comes from having taken a freeway driving program from supervised operation to driverless. This is a highly visible role with broad influence across the Autonomy organization.

In this role, you will:

  • Guide autonomy-wide initiatives toward driverless freeway operation, including setting the technical vision and strategy, building the roadmap, and driving cross-functional execution

  • Identify the highest-risk gaps between our current freeway capabilities and driver-out readiness, and lead the engineering work to close them

  • Develop algorithms that enable freeway driving capabilities, spanning architecture, design, implementation, integration, testing, and verification and validation

  • Communicate technical trade-offs, risk assessments, and readiness recommendations to diverse stakeholders, including senior and executive leadership

  • Mentor engineers across the freeway program and raise the bar for how we design, test, and validate high-speed autonomous driving

  • Qualifications:

  • 10+ years of industry software experience

  • Demonstrated technical leadership of removing the human driver from an autonomous vehicle operating on freeways or highways

  • Deep technical expertise in at least one autonomy domain, such as behavior/motion planning, perception, prediction, simulation, or systems engineering

  • Proven ability to lead large, cross-functional engineering efforts from ambiguity to shipped results

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical trade-offs for varied audiences including executives

  • Bonus Qualifications:

  • Experience scaling and operating a driverless service after driver removal

  • Experience constructing safety cases or defining driver-out readiness criteria for high-speed autonomous driving

  • Proficiency in C++

  • Get job alerts

    Receive new climate job opportunities matching your preferences.

    Not quite the right fit? Keep looking.

    More climate roles that match your skills and values.

    View all jobs

    2081 Emobility jobs at zoox

    zoox is hiring Embedded Software Engineer - Drive Systems,Senior Staff / Principal Software Engineer - Freeway Autonomy,Senior Supplier Quality Engineer, and more.

    Hiring at zoox? Feature these jobs →

    View all jobs at zoox
    zoox logo
    Number of employees

    4100

    Dollar sign

    $137,000.00 - $207,000.00

    Full time
    Emobility
    zoox logo
    Number of employees

    4100

    Dollar sign

    $340,000.00 - $493,000.00

    Full time
    Emobility
    zoox logo
    Number of employees

    4100

    Dollar sign

    $190,000.00 - $228,000.00

    Full time
    Emobility
    zoox logo
    Number of employees

    4100

    Dollar sign

    $201,000.00 - $275,000.00

    Full time
    Emobility
    zoox logo
    Number of employees

    4100

    Dollar sign

    $259,000.00 - $311,000.00

    Full time
    Emobility
    zoox logo
    Number of employees

    4100

    Dollar sign

    $206,000.00 - $240,000.00

    Full time
    Emobility