--- title: 'Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Machine Learning Runtime), Motion Planning at PlusAI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-software-engineer-machine-learning-runtime-motion-planning-plusai-3ayj39bayq6s' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Machine Learning Runtime), Motion Planning at PlusAI - **Company:** PlusAI - **Location:** Santa Clara, CA - **Compensation:** $130k–$220k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-08-27 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/plus-2/0f0a31df-c866-4c07-9252-f11d6ac44546 ## Job description PlusAI is a Physical AI company pioneering AI-based virtual driver software for factory-built autonomous trucks. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with operations in the United States and Europe, Plus was named by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. Partners including TRATON GROUP’s Scania, MAN, and International brands, Hyundai Motor Company, Iveco Group, Bosch, and DSV are working with Plus to accelerate the deployment of next-generation autonomous trucks. If you’re ready to make a huge impact and drive the future of autonomy, Plus is looking for talented individuals to join its fast-growing teams. ## Responsibilities - Design, implement, and optimize the production runtime pipeline for ML-based autonomous vehicle planning. - Integrate machine learning models into a scalable, safety-critical planning software stack. - Optimize end-to-end inference performance through algorithm optimization, C++ implementation, profiling, memory optimization, and efficient execution on compute-constrained embedded platforms. - Develop high-performance C++ components for feature extraction, inference, post-processing, trajectory generation, and runtime orchestration. - Design runtime validation, safety guardrails, and fallback mechanisms to ensure generated trajectories are feasible, robust, and compliant with traffic rules. - Investigate complex runtime issues by tracing failures across the planning pipeline, from feature extraction through inference to trajectory generation. - Debug difficult edge-case scenarios using logs, profiling tools, visualization, offline replay, and quantitative analysis to identify root causes and implement robust solutions. - Build tooling and infrastructure to improve debugging, observability, performance analysis, testing, and runtime monitoring. - Collaborate closely with machine learning engineers to efficiently deploy new models into production while maintaining system reliability and performance. - Drive continuous improvements in runtime architecture, scalability, reliability, and maintainability. - Ensure technical work complies with the company's Quality Management System (QMS), customer requirements, regulatory standards, and internal engineering processes. ## Requirements - BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. - 4+ years of experience developing high-performance production software. - Strong C++ programming skills with experience building, optimizing, and maintaining large-scale software systems. - Experience optimizing real-time systems, including latency, throughput, memory usage, and multithreaded performance. - Experience deploying machine learning inference into production environments. - Familiarity with TensorRT, CUDA, ONNX Runtime, or similar inference acceleration frameworks. - Strong software engineering fundamentals, including software architecture, testing, and code quality. - Excellent debugging and analytical problem-solving skills, with the ability to systematically investigate complex software and system-level issues. - Experience tracing failures across multi-stage pipelines, identifying root causes, and implementing reliable long-term solutions. - Experience designing validation strategies, automated testing, runtime monitoring, and observability for production systems. - Strong ownership mindset with the ability to drive problems from investigation through implementation, validation, and deployment. - Excellent communication skills and experience collaborating across machine learning and systems engineering teams. ## Preferred Skills - Experience with autonomous driving planning, prediction, or robotics software. - Experience profiling CPU and GPU performance using modern profiling tools. - Experience deploying software on embedded GPU platforms. - Familiarity with PyTorch and machine learning workflows. - Experience with distributed systems, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure. Bonus Qualifications Candidates who stand out typically have one or more of the following: - Deep expertise in modern C++ (C++17/20) and high-performance software engineering. - Experience optimizing production inference pipelines for low latency and high throughput. - Experience developing internal debugging, visualization, profiling, or observability tools. - Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex production issues involving machine learning, runtime software, and system integration. - Strong systems thinking with the ability to balance correctness, performance, maintainability, scalability, and safety. - Demonstrated technical leadership and experience mentoring engineers on large production software projects. ## Your opportunities joining PlusAI Work, learn and grow in a highly future-oriented, innovative and dynamic field. Wide range of opportunities for personal and professional development. Catered free lunch, unlimited snacks and beverages. Highly competitive salary and benefits package, including 401(k) plan. ## About PlusAI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: PlusAI develops AI-based autonomous driving software for heavy trucks, powering Level 4 (L4) virtual driver systems that enable trucks to operate without human intervention on highways. - **Entity Type**: Private (planning to go public via a SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX, NYSE: PLAV – conflicting reports indicate the reverse merger may have been cancelled) - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, United States - **Founded**: 2016 - **Founders**: Not publicly available in provided sources ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Autonomous driving / automotive technology - **Target customers**: B2B – global truck manufacturers (OEMs) and large freight fleets - **Mission**: To make trucking safer, more efficient, and more sustainable by deploying AI-powered autonomous driving at scale ## Products & Services - **SuperDrive**: L4 autonomous driving system that serves as a virtual driver for factory-built heavy trucks. Designed to be installed by OEMs and monetized on a per-mile usage basis. - **PlusDrive**: A driver-assist version of SuperDrive that keeps a human in the cabin to oversee the system. Already in commercial use, reducing driver fatigue and fuel costs. - **SuperDrive HyperFoundry**: A suite of proprietary AV data and tools (data acquisition, auto-labeling, 3D reconstruction, neural simulation) sold to third-party customers today, generating revenue before the full L4 launch. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed; the SPAC merger was valued at $300M (conflicting reports of cancellation). - **Key Metric**: Annual revenue of $4M (as of latest data); total funding of ~$1.3B across 8 rounds. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: TRATON GROUP (Scania, MAN, International), Hyundai Motor Company, Iveco Group, Bosch, DSV, Ryder. - **Growth Signals**: - Active trial with Ryder and International on a 600+ mile daily route (I-35 corridor) – 60,000+ cumulative miles, approaching 100 runs. - Recent software upgrades enabling night driving and construction zone capabilities. - Partnered with multiple global OEMs to install SuperDrive on factory-built trucks – no retrofitting required. - 7M+ miles of L4-validated data collected. ## Competitive Advantages - **Asset-light software model**: Zero manufacturing capex – PlusAI is a pure-play software provider, avoiding heavy hardware costs. - **OEM integration**: Factory-installed by partners like TRATON and Hyundai, providing a scalable path to thousands of trucks. - **Proprietary data moat**: Over $500M in R&D investment and 7M+ miles of validated data enable advanced AI models (end-to-end and vision-language-action). - **Capital efficiency**: Path to cash-flow positive in 2027E, with lower OpEx than key competitors. ## Strategic Focus - **Near-term**: Commercial launch of driverless L4 trucks in 2027, targeting revenue from per-mile usage. - **Current revenue generation**: Selling AV data and tools (HyperFoundry) to third parties. - **R&D edge**: Leveraging large AI models and generative AI to continuously improve the virtual driver’s capabilities and expand the Operational Design Domain (ODD). ## Why Work Here - **Culture & ratings**: Employer rating of 4.1/5 (30 reviews), with high marks for work-life balance (4.6), culture (4.7), and career growth (4.6). - **Engineering focus**: 105 technical employees (23% of workforce); active job postings (38) include senior ML infrastructure, perception, planning, simulation, and engineering intern roles. - **Global offices**: HQ in Santa Clara, CA, with offices in Fremont, Cupertino, and Munich, Germany. Workforce spans 8 countries. - **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge autonomous driving technology with partners like TRATON, Hyundai, and Bosch. Strong talent pipeline from Stanford, CMU, and alumni at Waymo, NVIDIA, Apple. ## Sources 1. [LinkedIn – PlusAI](https://linkedin.com/company/plusai) 2. [CB Insights – PlusAI](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/plusai) 3. [PitchBook – PlusAI](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/180375-76) 4. [PlusAI Presentation (April 2026)](https://www.plus.ai/documents/plusai-presentation-april-2026.pdf) 5. 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