Senior Autonomy Software Engineer, Calibration

<div class="content-intro"><p>Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous technology. In 2024, Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.</p></div><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We are looking for a Senior Engineer to join our Calibration, Localization and Mapping (CLAM) team. Someone with deep expertise in multi-sensor calibration for autonomous systems who can ensure our trucks' cameras, lidars, radars, and IMUs are precisely characterized and fused with confidence.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>In this role, you will:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Develop and maintain intrinsic and extrinsic calibration algorithms for cameras, lidar, radar, and IMU sensors, and set the technical strategy for these systems.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Build online/self-calibration systems that detect and correct sensor drift or misalignment over the life of the vehicle.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Characterize sensor uncertainty and noise models to support downstream localization and perception fusion, anticipating failure modes before they arise in the field.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Design and maintain tooling for factory calibration, field recalibration, and post-maintenance verification.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Develop and evangelize metrics and automated checks to validate calibration quality and flag degraded sensors.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Troubleshoot calibration issues found in the field or in simulation, driving root-cause fixes and serving as a technical escalation point for complex or ambiguous calibration problems.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Collaborate closely with Localization, Mapping, Perception, and Hardware teams, and guide sensor selection strategy in partnership with Hardware and Sensors teams.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mentor other engineers and represent CLAM in cross-functional design reviews.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>What you'll bring:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Strong technical background. BS, MS, or PhD with academic or industry experience in sensor calibration, computer vision, or robotics.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Skilled in C++ with strong software engineering fundamentals, and experience building high-reliability deployed applications. Code is your craft.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience with intrinsic and extrinsic calibration techniques (e.g., camera-lidar calibration, hand-eye calibration, target-based and targetless methods).</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience with optimization techniques used in calibration (e.g., bundle adjustment, nonlinear least squares, factor graphs).</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Solid understanding of sensor uncertainty modeling and how calibration errors propagate into localization and perception.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Solid understanding of metrics, data analysis, and scientific evaluation.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A team player. You take ownership and are interested in the performance of the entire system across engineering disciplines.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ability to build and iterate quickly, and comfortable defining and building lasting infrastructure components from scratch.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hands on. Curious. Flexible. Interested in new domains to expand your horizons.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Great communicator. Experience writing clear, concise design documentation to gather feedback across the team.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Staff-level candidates) Demonstrated ability to set technical direction, influence without direct authority, mentor engineers, and align multiple teams around a shared approach.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bonus points if you have:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience building automated calibration pipelines or in-field self-calibration systems.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hands-on experience calibrating sensors on a real vehicle fleet.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience with point cloud registration or multi-modal sensor fusion.</span></li> </ul> <p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>What we offer:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and&nbsp; MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MetLife Legal Services, Identity &amp; Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, &amp; Critical Illness Insurance</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation)&nbsp;</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fidelity 401(k)</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA</span></li> <li style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)</span></li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p>The pay range listed below reflects the base salary&nbsp;<strong data-stringify-type="bold">in our SF/Silicon Valley location,&nbsp;</strong>across several internal levels. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors including: work location, experience, relevant training, education, skill level and performance during interview. Total compensation at Kodiak includes base pay, equity, bonus and a competitive benefits package</p></div><div class="title">California Pay Range</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$190,000</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$220,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><div>&nbsp;</div> <div>At Kodiak, we strive to build a diverse community working towards our common company goals in a safe and collaborative environment where harassment of any kind is strictly prohibited. Kodiak is committed to equal opportunity employment regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In alignment with its business operations, Kodiak adheres to all relevant statutes, regulations, and administrative prerequisites. Accordingly, roles that carry more sensitive requirements may be limited to candidates that can satisfy additional scrutiny and eligibility for such positions may hinge on verification of a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status. Should the position require, and Kodiak determines that a candidate’s residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status necessitate an export license, bar the candidate from the position, or otherwise fall under national security-related restrictions, Kodiak will consider the candidate for alternative positions unaffected by such restrictions, under terms and conditions set forth at Kodiak’s sole discretion, or, as an alternative, opt not to proceed with the candidate’s application. If applicable, Kodiak may provide visa sponsorship for eligible candidates.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em>We use a third-party AI tool (Endorsed) to assist in the initial screening of applications. As part of the evaluation process, we provide Endorsed with job requirements and candidate-submitted applications. Final hiring decisions are made by our human recruitment team, and no automated system makes the ultimate decision regarding hiring. Certain features of the platform may qualify it as an Automated Employment Decision Tool (AEDT) under applicable regulations. We began using Endorsed on January 1, 2026. You can review the independent bias audit report covering our use of Endorsed [here](</em><em><a href="https://endorsed.com/local-law-144" target="_blank" data-sk="tooltip_parent">https://endorsed.com/local-law-144</a></em><em>). By submitting your application, you acknowledge that your application may be processed by AI systems as part of the screening and selection process. If you have any questions or would like to request a separate review of your application, please contact </em><em><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" data-sk="tooltip_parent">[email protected]</a></em><em> with "Separate Review Request" in the email subject line.</em></div> <p>&nbsp;</p></div>