---
title: 'Senior Onboard Vehicle Network Engineer at Motional'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-onboard-vehicle-network-engineer-motional-boston-8n505x9a7rt5'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Senior Onboard Vehicle Network Engineer at Motional

- **Company:** Motional
- **Location:** Boston, MA
- **Compensation:** $149k–$199k
- **Posted:** 2026-10-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://motional.com/open-positions/?gh_jid=8033974003#/8033974003

## Job description

Mission Summary:

Motional's Platform Infrastructure organization builds and operates the foundational onboard software systems that power our autonomous vehicles. Our responsibilities include system communications and IPC, networking, Linux operating system development and maintenance, high-speed data logging and offload, and onboard system performance optimization.

We are seeking an Onboard Vehicle Network Engineer to lead the design, evolution, and maintenance of our onboard vehicle network architecture. In this hands-on engineering role, you will be responsible for defining the network topology, hardware interfaces, communication protocols, and network diagnostics for both our current generation of operational autonomous vehicles and our next-generation vehicle platform. You will blend software engineering expertise with system-level network design to ensure high-throughput, low-latency, deterministic, and resilient communication across all onboard compute nodes, sensors, and controllers.

What You’ll Be Doing:

- Design and evolve the onboard vehicle network topology, including physical and logical architectures for both current operational platforms and next-generation autonomous vehicles.
- Define and implement network protocol stacks, communication standards, and messaging layers across compute nodes, sensors, microcontrollers, and actuators.
- Write and maintain high-quality software and tooling for network routing, monitoring, fault detection, diagnostics, and failover handling.
- Partner with hardware, platform, and autonomy software teams to evaluate and select network hardware components.
- Establish network performance budgets, Quality of Service (QoS) policies, network isolation/segmentation strategies, and latency/bandwidth constraints.
- Build telemetry and monitoring tools to observe network health, bandwidth utilization, packet drops, and real-time communication performance.
- Diagnose and resolve complex, system-level networking issues, including loss of communication, packet drops, latency jitter, and hardware controller errors.
- Define maintenance, provisioning, and OTA firmware update strategies for onboard network switches and interface hardware.
- Contribute to technical roadmaps for next-generation onboard networking and communications infrastructure.

What We’re Looking For:

- Strong background as a Software Engineer with demonstrated ability to write, debug, and maintain production code.
- Deep understanding of embedded network architectures, network topology design, and system-level communication flows.
- Hands-on experience with networking protocols and standards (e.g., Ethernet, TCP/IP, UDP, CAN/CAN-FD, etc).
- Proficiency in a modern programming language (C++ is preferred, but experience in any modern language is acceptable).
- Experience designing network security policies, traffic shaping/prioritization, QoS, and logical network isolation.
- Ability to design and build software tools for network telemetry, packet inspection, and automated system diagnostics.
- Experience collaborating closely across organizational boundaries with hardware, embedded Linux, system integration, and application engineering teams.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex network architecture decisions to diverse engineering audiences.

Bonus Points:

- Strong, practical coding experience in modern C++ within embedded Linux or automotive software environments.
- Experience with automotive network software architectures and protocols (e.g., AUTOSAR Classic/Adaptive, DDS, ROS/ROS2).
- Familiarity with automotive switch hardware, PHYs, and compute platforms (e.g., Broadcom, Marvell, NVIDIA DRIVE AGX platform).
- Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, network simulation, or bus heavy-load stress testing.
- Knowledge of Linux networking internals, socket programming, network device drivers, or eBPF-based network monitoring.
- Experience with automotive cybersecurity concepts (e.g., ISO/SAE 21434, SecOC, MACsec, onboard firewalls).
- Familiarity with Bazel build systems and large-scale software codebases.

Work Arrangement:

This role is hybrid from our Pittsburgh/Boston/LV office and requires in-office days each week to support hands-on system work and cross-functional collaboration.

## #LI-AE1

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range $149,000—$198,500 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.

Scale up, not starting up.

Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.

Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit  [www.Motional.com](https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3300142-1&h=1642745316&u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D3253528-1%26h%3D3781125006%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fc212.net%252Fc%252Flink%252F%253Ft%253D0%2526l%253Den%2526o%253D3089636-1%2526h%253D3468778127%2526u%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fc212.net%25252Fc%25252Flink%25252F%25253Ft%25253D0%252526l%25253Den%252526o%25253D2881693-1%252526h%25253D646020682%252526u%25253Dhttps%2525253A%2525252F%2525252Furldefense.com%2525252Fv3%2525252F__http%2525253A%2525252Fwww.motional.com%2525252F__%2525253B!!KT8c38mO!j78LjnhAm2VK7Fu23VO6KlwqDXvVTQFMzmyzieKQqZDQksh2tpWEseK4to8eKzwsEwI%25252524%252526a%25253Dwww.Motional.com%2526a%253Dwww.Motional.com%26a%3Dwww.Motional.com&a=www.Motional.com) and follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/motionaldrive), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/67123512/), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/motionaldrive/) and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr__mGPkBb-KMoYWbSGuA9w).

Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.

## About Motional

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Motional is an autonomous vehicle technology company developing Level 4 driverless systems for robotaxi and delivery services.
- **Entity Type**: Private (joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv)
- **Headquarters**: Boston, Massachusetts, USA (with offices in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Santa Monica, and Singapore)
- **Founded**: 2020 (formed as a joint venture; predecessor companies nuTonomy and Ottomatika founded in 2013)
- **Founders**: Motional was created as a joint venture; predecessor companies nuTonomy was co-founded by Karl Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli, and Ottomatika was founded by Raj Rajkumar

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Autonomous Vehicle Technology / Self-Driving Systems
- **Target Customers**: B2B partnerships with mobility networks (ride-hail and delivery platforms like Uber), enterprise fleet operators, and mobility service providers
- **Mission**: To make driverless vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality, fundamentally changing how the world moves.

## Products & Services
- **Robotaxi Service (Motional Driverless)**: A fully driverless, Level 4 autonomous vehicle platform designed for ride-hail services. Currently operating commercial robotaxi services on Uber in Las Vegas as of March 2026.
- **Autonomous Delivery**: The same robotaxi platform is designed to support autonomous delivery services, complementing the ride-hail offering.
- **nuScenes Open Source Dataset**: An industry-leading open-source dataset for autonomous vehicle research, demonstrating Motional's commitment to safety-focused data sharing.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private joint venture)
- **Key Metric**: Over 130,000 autonomous rides provided with zero at-fault incidents since predecessor companies began in 2013.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Hyundai Motor Group (joint venture partner), Aptiv (joint venture partner), Uber (commercial robotaxi partnership launched in Las Vegas, March 2026).
- **Growth Signals**: Commercial launch of robotaxi service on Uber in Las Vegas (March 2026), over a decade of autonomous driving development, significant scaling of driverless testing operations.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Industry-Leading Safety Record**: Zero at-fault incidents across 130,000+ autonomous rides, with safety as the company's bedrock principle.
- **Unique Joint Venture Structure**: Combines Hyundai's manufacturing expertise (vehicle production, global scale) with Aptiv's automotive technology leadership (sensors, software, integration).
- **Proven Commercial Deployment**: First-mover advantage with a live, paying robotaxi service integrated into Uber's platform in a major US city.
- **Open Source Leadership**: The nuScenes dataset is a widely used industry benchmark, establishing Motional as a thought leader and attracting top talent.

## Strategic Focus
- **Commercialization at Scale**: Expanding the Las Vegas robotaxi service and replicating the model in new markets.
- **Platform Versatility**: Developing the same core technology for both ride-hail and delivery to maximize revenue per vehicle and market opportunity.
- **Safety-First Approach**: Continuing to lead the industry in transparency and safety data sharing to build public trust and regulatory confidence.
- **Partnership Ecosystem**: Deepening integration with Uber and pursuing additional mobility network partnerships globally.

## Why Work Here
- **Purpose-Driven Mission**: Employees are motivated by a clear social purpose: creating safer roads, more equitable transportation, and reducing emissions — not just building technology for profit.
- **Cutting-Edge Engineering Challenges**: Work on the hardest problems in robotics, machine learning, AI, software, and sensor fusion, with direct impact on a product already on the streets.
- **Culture & Values**: Described as "more human than big tech and more structured than start-ups." Core values include Safety as Bedrock, Build for Everyone (diversity & inclusion), Take Ownership, and Deliver the Future.
- **Global, Collaborative Team**: Offices across the US (Boston, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Santa Monica) and Asia (Singapore), with a culture that emphasizes collaboration across teams and disciplines.
- **Career Growth & Benefits**: Competitive benefits package, investment in employee development, and a "people first" approach that values career growth and well-being. Remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated but global office presence suggests flexibility.

## Sources
1. [Motional Website](https://motional.com/)
2. [Motional Careers Page](https://motional.com/careers)
3. [Motional - What We Do](https://motional.com/what-we-do)
4. [Motional - Life at Motional](https://motional.com/life-motional)
5. [Motional - Open Positions](https://motional.com/open-positions)

## Other roles at Motional

- [Senior Motion Planning Engineer - Safety-Layer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-motion-planning-engineer-safety-layer-motional-boston-1mqgakn68kzb) — Boston, MA / Las Vegas, NV / Pittsburgh, PA / United States
- [Senior Software Engineer, HIL Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-hil-infrastructure-motional-las-vegas-vwbpxc8hnjv0) — Las Vegas, NV / Pittsburgh, PA
- [Senior Onboard Vehicle Network Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-onboard-vehicle-network-engineer-motional-las-vegas-vxvr6tfsfz3h) — Las Vegas, NV
- [Senior Onboard Vehicle Network Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-onboard-vehicle-network-engineer-motional-pittsburgh-119a17g3s8cy) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Senior Principal Engineer Team Lead - Fleet Software Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-principal-engineer-team-lead-fleet-software-platform-motional-singapore-ttyb0an1m9a9) — Singapore
- [Director, Onboard Core Software](https://feeny.ai/job/director-onboard-core-software-motional-boston-3fvtk2xhank7) — Boston, MA / Las Vegas, NV / Pittsburgh, PA / United States
- [Senior Robotics Engineer, AV Performance Diagnosis & Evaluation](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-engineer-av-performance-diagnosis-evaluation-motional-boston-t38hyfd7pg8d) — Boston, MA / Las Vegas, NV
- [Principal Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-engineering-manager-motional-las-vegas-4n9gg5b5szfz) — Las Vegas, NV
- [Senior Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-operations-manager-motional-las-vegas-ts33vfa0x3ej) — Las Vegas, NV
- [Senior Data Scientist, Systems Performance](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-scientist-systems-performance-motional-boston-j6wmjyx51r8r) — Boston, MA / Las Vegas, NV / Pittsburgh, PA / United States