Director, Onboard Core Software

Role overview Lead the teams responsible for the software foundation running on a fleet of autonomous vehicles, spanning embedded firmware, operating systems, runtimes, and middleware. You’ll set a shared technical direction and delivery process, keep the current platform reliable in the field, and guide development of its successor. The role requires close coordination with vehicle platform, autonomy, and safety organizations.

Responsibilities - Own the onboard stack across compute platforms, including firmware, operating systems, drivers, runtime, resource management, health monitoring, diagnostics, and safety software. - Set a unified roadmap, intake process, prioritization approach, and escalation path for onboard software. - Lead engineering managers and technical leaders, including hiring, performance management, career development, and organizational growth. - Serve as the main engineering counterpart to partner organizations and resolve ownership boundaries across teams. - Define release criteria and quality measures for safe, reliable onboard software. - Oversee cross-layer behaviors such as startup sequencing, storage lifecycle, ECU bring-up, compute management, and latency.

Requirements - Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or equivalent practical experience. - 12+ years in software engineering, including at least five years leading organizations of 40 or more engineers through multiple management layers. - Leadership experience in software running on physical hardware, such as automotive, robotics, aerospace, or consumer devices. - Depth building or leading embedded firmware, Linux kernel or board-support software, real-time middleware, or high-performance runtimes; able to discuss boot sequencing, inter-process communication latency, and resource scheduling with senior engineers. - Experience operating software in a deployed fleet or field environment while bringing up a new platform. - Strong hiring and talent-development skills, cross-organization judgment, clear communication, and experience building inclusive teams.