---
title: 'Senior/Staff Software Engineer - ML/AI Applications at Zoox'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-software-engineer-ml-ai-applications-zoox-foster-city-azqbzcefeya9'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-15'
---

# Senior/Staff Software Engineer - ML/AI Applications at Zoox

- **Company:** Zoox
- **Location:** Foster City, CA
- **Compensation:** $215k–$294k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-05-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/zoox/2aa94106-52ac-4f67-871b-1140f8644ea4

## Job description

As a Technical Lead on Zoox's internal agentic platform, you will own end-to-end integration of a tool-centric agent runtime with external and internal agent clients, line of business backends, scheduled and interactive agent workloads, and cloud operations (Kubernetes, observability, secrets management). You will translate architecture and security intent into stable tool contracts, testable integration milestones, and repeatable releases, and you will be the primary engineer when issues sit at the boundary between product surfaces, platform services, and upstream systems. This role is platform and service integration for an agentic framework that mediates tools (discovery, invocation, policy, and telemetry). Success is measured by reliable tool call paths over HTTP, correct authentication and scoping, environment parity from dev through production, and clear ownership across partner engineering, security, and infrastructure teams.

In this role, you will:

- Own and lead integration strategy and execution across hosted services, shared libraries, standardized tool protocols (e.g., JSON-RPC over HTTP), REST APIs, and diverse callers (vendor agents, consoles, automation workers).

- Drive cross-functional delivery with backend API teams, partner agent owners, security, SRE/platform, and program management, ensuring formal sign-off where required.

- Debug and root-cause complex failures using structured logs, distributed traces, metrics, and gateway/session-token behavior, documenting durable mitigations and runbooks.

- Define and review all integration artifacts (contracts, allowlists, registry config, environment matrices, and interface assumptions) that upstream and downstream teams implement against.

- Contribute to release gating by ensuring container image promotion, configuration/secrets posture, smoke path execution for high-traffic flows, and disciplined branching/tagging for production intent

Qualifications:

- BS or MS in Computer Science or a related field with 7+ years of software engineering experience, strong in integration, platform, or backend roles.

- Strong Python (production services, async I/O, automated testing) and comfort in a large monorepo with CI-driven delivery.

- Deep experience with HTTP integration (REST/JSON-RPC, TLS, debugging under load) and shipping services on Kubernetes (deployments, health checks, troubleshooting).

- Auth integration experience: bearer tokens, JWT validation, OAuth2/OIDC or enterprise SSO concepts, and least-privilege scoping

Bonus Qualifications

- Exposure to Model Context Protocol (MCP) or similar agent tool-calling and orchestration models used in industry or internal platforms.

- Observability-led integration habits: metrics, traces, structured logging, and basic SLO or dashboard thinking for integration health.

- Background in security-sensitive integrations (data minimization, external partner access, review cycles with security or compliance).

## About Zoox

Zoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments. We’re looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team.

Follow us on LinkedIn

Accommodations If you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to accommodations@zoox.com or your assigned recruiter.

A Final Note: You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

## About Zoox

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Zoox is building a fully autonomous, all-electric, purpose-built robotaxi service to give the world a better way to ride.
- **Entity Type**: Private (independent subsidiary of Amazon, acquired in 2020)
- **Headquarters**: Foster City, California, USA (with offices in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin, Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles)
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Not specified in provided sources

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Autonomous ride‑hailing / Self‑driving electric vehicles
- **Target customers**: B2C – individual riders seeking safe, convenient, and sustainable urban transportation
- **Mission**: “Give the world a better way to ride” – providing safer, cleaner, autonomous ride‑hailing for everyone [zoox.com](https://zoox.com/about)

## Products & Services
- **Zoox Robotaxi**: A purpose‑built, fully autonomous electric vehicle designed from the ground up for ride‑hailing. Features bidirectional driving, four‑wheel steering, and no steering wheel or pedals. The service handles all charging, maintenance, and fleet management – riders simply get in and enjoy the ride [zoox.com](https://zoox.com).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed (Zoox is a private subsidiary of Amazon)
- **Key Metric**: Not publicly available (revenue and funding details are not reported as a stand‑alone entity)
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Amazon (parent company)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Received authorization from the Nevada DMV to operate robotaxis on public roads [zoox.com/about](https://zoox.com/about)
  - Expanded testing and operations to Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, and other cities
  - Continues to scale its engineering and operations teams (multiple open roles on the careers page as of 2026)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Purpose‑built design**: Unlike retrofitted vehicles, Zoox’s robotaxi is designed from scratch for autonomous ride‑hailing (symmetrical, bidirectional, four‑wheel steering, no driver controls)
- **Amazon backing**: Deep financial resources, supply chain expertise, and cloud infrastructure (AWS) support rapid development and scaling
- **Full‑stack autonomy**: In‑house AI, computer vision, and sensing stack integrated directly into the vehicle design
- **Safety‑first approach**: Comprehensive testing, safety‑critical system design, and focus on public road validation

## Strategic Focus
- Achieving commercial launch of the Zoox ride‑hailing service in select U.S. cities
- Continuing to mature the autonomous driving system through real‑world testing and simulation
- Expanding the “Go‑to‑Market” strategy and building out operations teams (see CRM Lead, Go‑to‑Market Manager roles) [jobs.lever.co/zoox](https://jobs.lever.co/zoox)
- Scaling manufacturing and prototyping to prepare for fleet deployment

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Diverse, supportive community with inclusion‑focused strategy. Crew‑led groups for personal and professional development. Emphasis on trust, humility, and openness [zoox.com/careers](https://zoox.com/careers)
- **Work environment**: Hybrid? The careers page lists many roles as “On‑site” in Foster City, CA, with other office locations available. In‑office perks include a famous food program with daily changing local and sustainable dishes, plus a busy calendar of events and sports teams.
- **Benefits**: Comprehensive health plans (Cigna), mental health support, wellbeing program, flexible time off, generous family planning and caregiver support, and a commitment to work‑life balance.
- **Growth opportunities**: Work on cutting‑edge autonomous vehicle technology alongside some of the brightest minds in AI, engineering, computer vision, and more. Offers internships and re‑entry programs (via Path Forward) for career returners.
- **Recruitment process**: Uses AI tools to assist in reviewing applications but final decisions are human. No fees are charged at any stage – watch for recruitment scams [zoox.com/journal/landing-a-job-zoox](https://zoox.com/journal/landing-a-job-zoox)

## Sources
1. [Zoox official website](https://zoox.com)
2. [Zoox About page](https://zoox.com/about)
3. [Zoox Careers page](https://zoox.com/careers)
4. [Zoox job openings on Lever](https://jobs.lever.co/zoox)
5. [Zoox hiring and interview process](https://zoox.com/journal/landing-a-job-zoox)

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