Staff Robotics Engineer

Wayve
Sunnyvale +1 more
On-site

Who this role is best for

Best suited to robotics software engineers with expertise in real-time systems and sensor calibration, working in autonomous vehicle development.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with experience in deploying AI on constrained hardware platforms for autonomous systems
    — “productionising algorithm-heavy robotics software for vehicles, robots, drones, aerospace systems”
  • Individuals who have worked on sensor fusion and state estimation with a focus on robustness and reliability
    — “strong practical expertise in sensor calibration, state estimation, or a closely related robotics domain”
  • Engineers who can balance correctness, debuggability, and performance in real-time systems
    — “balancing correctness, debuggability, and runtime efficiency”

Things to consider

  • The role requires in-office presence in Sunnyvale, US, despite flexible work arrangements
    — “This is a full-time role based in either London, UK or Sunnyvale, US”
  • Expect a rigorous interview process with multiple technical and competency assessments
    — “Our process is clear and respectful of your time”

How to stand out

  • Highlight your experience with asynchronous sensor data and real-time optimization in your resume
    — “experience with asynchronous, high-throughput sensor data”
  • Demonstrate your ability to integrate calibration algorithms into production systems during interviews
    — “Adapt and integrate calibration and estimation algorithms for continuous or on-demand onboard execution”
  • Showcase projects where you designed APIs or managed cross-functional teams for complex systems
    — “strong software architecture, API design, testing, debugging, and performance-profiling skills”
  • Emphasize your background in embedded Linux or edge-state management if applicable
    — “Experience with embedded Linux, edge-state management, rollback, automotive safety”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Developed robust production software for online calibration
  • Adapted and integrated calibration and estimation algorithms
  • Strengthened validation and interfaces
  • Profiled and optimized critical paths
  • Built comprehensive tests and improved observability
Typical background
PhD or MSc in Robotics, Computer Science, or related fieldExperience in sensor calibration and state estimationStrong background in C++ and Python

Skills & requirements

Required

Sensor CalibrationState EstimationC++PythonAsynchronous ProgrammingHardware-accelerated PipelinesSoftware ArchitectureAPI DesignTestingDebuggingPerformance Profiling

Preferred

Visual OdometrySLAMLocalisationSensor FusionEgo-motion EstimationGeometric Computer VisionGPUDSPNPU

Stack & domain

Sensor CalibrationState EstimationC++PythonProductionising Algorithm-heavy Robotics SoftwareAsynchronous, High-throughput Sensor DataHardware-accelerated PipelinesSoftware ArchitectureAPI DesignTestingDebuggingPerformance-profilingLeadershipCommunicationRoboticsAutonomous VehicleAI

About the role

Original posting from Wayve via Ashby

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

🛠️ About our Engineering Teams

Wayve is seeking a Robotics Software Engineer to join our Online Calibration team and support scaling across our autonomous vehicle fleet.

You will turn calibration and estimation methods into reliable, observable, and resource-efficient components of the on-vehicle runtime. Working across calibration, state estimation, robot software, hardware acceleration, and vehicle-platform teams, you will help shape the architecture and roadmap for a foundational capability that directly affects vehicle performance, resilience, and safety.

🧠 Your day-to-day

You’ll develop robust production software for online calibration, operating continuously on constrained, hardware-accelerated platforms. You’ll work with asynchronous sensor data, accelerator-produced features, and noisy, time-varying calibration parameters, balancing correctness, debuggability, and runtime efficiency.

🧩 What you’ll be working on:

  • Extend the existing online calibration node, delivering robust production software within the team’s architecture and technical direction.
  • Adapt and integrate calibration and estimation algorithms for continuous or on-demand onboard execution.
  • Develop reliable handling for asynchronous sensor data, accelerator-produced features, and noisy, time-varying calibration parameters.
  • Strengthen validation, gating, persistence, and interfaces between the calibration node, onboard state, runtime consumers, logging, and fleet-facing systems.
  • Profile and optimise critical paths within compute, memory, storage, and latency constraints without compromising correctness or debuggability.
  • Build comprehensive simulation, replay, bench, and on-vehicle tests, and improve metrics, diagnostics, and fleet-level observability across nominal and failure scenarios.

🙌 You should apply if:

  • You have strong practical expertise in sensor calibration, state estimation, or a closely related robotics domain, including calibration of cameras, LiDAR, IMUs, vehicle parameters, or multi-sensor systems.
  • You have a strong understanding of filtering and estimation methods, including Kalman-family filters, Bayesian estimation, smoothing, robust estimation, or factor-graph optimisation.
  • You have strong modern C++ software-engineering skills and proficiency in Python for prototyping, analysis, and test tooling.
  • You have experience productionising algorithm-heavy robotics software for vehicles, robots, drones, aerospace systems, or comparable edge platforms, including clear lifecycle, failure-handling, and recovery behaviour.
  • You have experience with asynchronous, high-throughput sensor data and hardware-accelerated pipelines, and can optimise constrained compute and memory systems without losing correctness or debuggability.
  • You bring strong software architecture, API design, testing, debugging, and performance-profiling skills, alongside end-to-end ownership and effective cross-functional collaboration.

It would also be great if you have experience with visual odometry, SLAM, localisation, sensor fusion, ego-motion estimation, or geometric computer vision; GPU, DSP, NPU, or other hardware-accelerated robotics workloads; or production software at scale in a robotics or autonomous-systems company. Experience with embedded Linux, edge-state management, rollback, automotive safety, or fault-injection testing is also valuable.

🌱 Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.

More about Wayve:

🚀 Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work 💻- Locations & Flexible Working:

This is a full-time role based in either London, UK or Sunnyvale, US. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our offices and workshops with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

🔍 The Interview Process:

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

  • Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins)
  • Competency Interview (hiring manager interview; 30 mins)
  • Deep-dive technical interviews (programming in C++/Python, sensor calibration domain interview, and robotics system design interview; Tech Leadership Interview) 60 min each
  • Final interview: values and team alignment

We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.

What’s in it for you:

💰 Salaries benchmarked against the market annually

📈 Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve

✈️ Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable

✅ Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs

📚 Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth

🩺 Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

A quick, honest note before you apply.

Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.

If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you.

At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve. https://wayve.ai/careers/ To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve https://wayve.ai/careers/

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.

Source: Wayve careers (Ashby)

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