Motional · 5 months ago
Senior Motion Planning Engineer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level
$168K/yr - $225K/yr
5+ years expMotional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. In this role, you will apply your expertise in robotics and software development to lead the research and development of motion planning algorithms for autonomous vehicles.
AutomotiveAutonomous VehiclesFleet ManagementInformation TechnologySoftware
Responsibilities
Lead the research and development of novel algorithms for motion planning in autonomous driving, including but not limited to advanced search-based methods, sophisticated geometry-based methods, and decision making under uncertainty with a strong emphasis on probabilistic approaches
Architect and integrate complex combinations of motion planning and prediction algorithms, driving their evaluation and refinement for real-world deployment
Design and build a robust, scalable, and high-performance codebase that facilitates rapid exploration, prototyping, and rigorous evaluation of innovative motion planning approaches and algorithms
Drive technical collaboration and interface seamlessly with perception and prediction components upstream and trajectory optimization, tracking and control components downstream, ensuring end-to-end system performance
Leverage your deep software development and research expertise to teach others better software practices and principles, fostering a culture of technical excellence
Guide and mentor junior team members, cultivating a culture of product-focused engineering, rigorous research, and advanced development
Qualification
Required
5+ years of research experience in robotics / motion planning, with a proven track record of contributing to state-of-the-art solutions
3+ years of C++ software development, with an emphasis on developing high-performance and reliable systems
Past experience owning and leading technical development on complex features from problem formulation through research, implementation, and deployment in a production environment
Thirst for knowledge, continuous innovation, and a drive to push the boundaries of autonomous driving technology
Preferred
PhD preferred in Robotics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field; or a Master's degree with 2+ years of experience in the robotics (preferably AV industry)
Experience with probabilistic models, including but not limited to Gaussian mixture models, Hidden Markov Models, and Particle Filters
Experience with Bayesian modeling and inference techniques for decision making under uncertainty
Experience with the Bazel build framework
Benefits
Medical
Dental
Vision
401k with a company match
Health saving accounts
Life insurance
Pet insurance
Company
Motional
Motional offers an autonomous driving platform for robotaxi providers, fleet operators, and automotive manufacturers.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Motional has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (56)
2024 (111)
2023 (57)
2022 (110)
2021 (100)
2020 (7)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknown2024-05-03Acquired
2024-03-15Seed
Leadership Team
Laura Major
President and CEO
Balajee Kannan
Vice President, Autonomy
Recent News
2026-01-07
2026-01-07
2025-12-19
Company data provided by crunchbase