---
title: 'Software Engineer - AI Engineering at Applied Intuition'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ai-engineering-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-5ev7h7e5wejb'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Software Engineer - AI Engineering at Applied Intuition

- **Company:** [Applied Intuition](https://feeny.ai/companies/applied-intuition)
- **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA
- **Compensation:** $150k–$250k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-03-25
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/applied/981054d6-d6d9-4553-9db8-38e56939d3b8/application

**Skills:** AI/ML, LLMs, Agentic architectures, Backend infrastructure, APIs, Frontend development, Model evaluation, Data pipelines, Developer tooling, Platform engineering, Internal productivity infrastructure, Autonomous vehicle systems, Simulation software

> Join a high-impact team to build AI capabilities, agent frameworks, and app platforms from the ground up. You will design shared AI infrastructure, partner with product teams to ship production-quality features, and serve as a GenAI/LLM expert driving best practices for architecture and deployment.

## Job description

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co http://applied.co.

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

MEET OUR SOFTWARE ENGINEERS!

Meet some of our software engineers who are shaping the future of autonomy and delivering world-class solutions helping customers shorten time to market. Hear about what brought them to Applied Intuition, what’s kept them interested, and their advice to potential candidates.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for an AI engineer to join a small, high-impact team building the AI capabilities, agent frameworks, and app platform that power every Applied product and the workflows our own engineers rely on daily. This is a 0 to 1 role with real customer demand already behind it and the potential to scale into a major new business line. You’ll operate like a startup within a larger, well-resourced company – with the freedom to experiment, ship fast, and work directly with customers.

## AT APPLIED INTUITION, YOU WILL:

- Design and ship the shared AI infrastructure, frameworks, and tooling that power AI capabilities across Applied’s products and toolings.
- Partner with product teams to identify the highest-leverage AI use cases and take them from idea to production.
- Serve as a GenAI/LLM expert across the company – owning best practices for architecture, safety, evaluation, and deployment.
- Design, build, and ship agentic systems such as background coding agents, AI SRE tooling
- Work directly with customers to understand their needs, demo capabilities, and shape the product roadmap. Both external customers and internal teams are your customers.

WE'RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS:

- A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent
- 2+ years of experience building and deploying AI/ML-powered features & products
- Hands-on proficiency working with LLMs and agentic architectures.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals and a bias toward shipping production-quality code quickly
- Comfort working across the stack, from backend infrastructure to APIs to frontend work.
- A collaborative mindset and genuine enjoyment of customer interaction – both with external customers and internal teams who depend on your work.
- Proven ability to take initiative and context-switch across multiple high-priority projects in a fast-paced environment

## NICE TO HAVE:

- Practical ML literacy – you understand model evaluation, data pipelines, and the tradeoffs between approaches
- Background in developer tooling, platform engineering, or internal productivity infrastructure
- Experience working with autonomous vehicle systems or simulation software

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Applied Intuition pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum intended target base salary for new hire salaries for the position. The actual base salary offered to a successful candidate will additionally be influenced by a variety of factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact careers@applied.co. We will work with you!

## About Applied Intuition

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Applied Intuition builds software and digital infrastructure to bring physical AI — autonomous driving and robotics — to every moving machine on the planet.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C; $1.5B total funding raised)
- **Headquarters**: Sunnyvale, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Qasar Younis (CEO) and Peter Ludwig (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Autonomous driving, robotics, defense technology, simulation and validation software for ADAS/AD systems.
- **Target customers**: B2B — automotive OEMs (18 of top 20 global automakers), trucking, construction, mining, agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Defense and its allies.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “To build physical AI that creates a safer, more prosperous world.”

## Products & Services
- **Tools for Vehicle Intelligence**: Simulation, validation, and data management platforms for ADAS and autonomous vehicle development. SaaS and software tools for engineers building intelligent machines.
- **Vehicle OS**: An operating system for vehicles that manages over-the-air updates, data pipelines, and in-vehicle software, enabling automakers to deploy and maintain software-defined vehicles at scale.
- **Self-Driving Systems / Autonomy Stack**: End-to-end autonomous driving solutions, including perception, planning, and control, designed for cars, trucks, and off-road machinery.
- **NextGen OS & Infrastructure**: Platforms for defense, robotics, and next-generation physical AI applications, including solutions used by the U.S. military.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: ~$15 billion (as of 2024/2025, per LinkedIn profile)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $1.5 billion; 1,153 employees (+55% YoY); 396 active job postings
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Floodgate, NVIDIA, Databricks; partners include 18 of top 20 global automakers and U.S. defense agencies.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Acquired EpiSci (Feb 2025), Caliber Data Labs, and entities in Germany/UK.
  - Headcount grew 55% YoY; 1,000+ engineers.
  - Office expansion to 12 countries (US, UK, Germany, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, India, etc.).
  - Active hiring — job postings up 117.6% YoY.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep domain expertise**: Founded by YC alum/former GM engineer (Qasar Younis) and ex-Google Maps/Android Automotive engineer (Peter Ludwig).
- **Talent density**: 1,000+ engineers, 40+ ex-CTOs, and 30+ former founders on staff — a unique concentration of senior, founder-level talent.
- **Breadth of industry coverage**: Serves automotive, defense, trucking, mining, agriculture, and construction — rare diversification in physical AI.
- **Trusted by government and top OEMs**: U.S. military and 18 of top 20 global automakers rely on their stack, creating high switching costs and deep moats.
- **End-to-end platform**: Covers simulation, validation, OS, and full autonomy stack — not just a point solution.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expansion into defense**: Heavy investment in defense AI, including acquisitions and dedicated government offices in Washington D.C., San Diego, and Ft. Walton Beach.
- **Scaling physical AI beyond automotive**: Driving autonomy into mining, agriculture, construction, drones, and satellites.
- **Growing global footprint**: Opening offices in Europe and Asia to serve local OEM and defense clients.
- **Deepening the research lab**: Building a world-class AI research team focused on real-world intelligence.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “1,000 engineers, 40 ex-CTOs, and 30 former founders” — a high-agency, high-trust environment where engineers take ownership of hard problems from day one.
- **Impact**: Work on technology that goes from sports cars to fighter jets to mining trucks — real-world physical AI that saves lives and reshapes industries.
- **Benefits**:
  - 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
  - 50% 401(k) matching
  - Up to 12 weeks fully paid parental leave
  - Learning stipend for education and training
  - Fitness and wellness stipend
  - 25 free Lyra coaching/therapy sessions per year
  - Catered lunches and expensed dinners, snacks, and drinks at offices
  - Alumni network for long-term professional connections
- **Work model**: Office-first culture with global hubs (12 offices across US, Europe, and Asia). Not fully remote — roles are generally tied to a specific office location.

## Sources
1. [appliedintuition.com — About](https://www.appliedintuition.com/about)
2. [appliedintuition.com — Homepage](https://www.appliedintuition.com/)
3. [linkedin.com — Applied Intuition Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/applied-intuition-inc)
4. [appliedintuition.com — Careers](https://www.appliedintuition.com/careers)
5. [appliedintuition.com — Jobs](https://www.appliedintuition.com/jobs)

## Other roles at Applied Intuition

- [Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiter-applied-intuition-tokyo-wpgvs03mbr80) — Tokyo, Japan
- [Sensor Validation Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)](https://feeny.ai/job/sensor-validation-engineer-sunnyvale-ca-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-x8sn1vgksqpw) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Senior Validation Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-validation-engineer-sunnyvale-ca-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-c9f3d44nqsjy) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Recruiting Coordinator (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiting-coordinator-contract-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-nhqnqj542y3h) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Cybersecurity Software Engineer - New Grad (December 2027)](https://feeny.ai/job/cybersecurity-software-engineer-new-grad-december-2027-applied-intuition-e3gzwk0hrp11) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Forward Deployed Engineer - New Grad (December 2026)](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-new-grad-december-2026-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-kzjq7ww8cwpb) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Electrical Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-integration-engineer-applied-intuition-bengaluru-pnpt5qsx5f3m) — Bengaluru, India
- [Enterprise Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-security-engineer-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-qs4527s8ge70) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Technical Program Manager - Trucking Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-trucking-operations-applied-intuition-sunnyvale-m8dmkrbas0t9) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Engineering Manager - Defense Physical AI](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-defense-physical-ai-applied-intuition-washington-bfs8784c9g0k) — Washington, DC