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Principal Engineer, Motion Planning
Posted: 03/27/2026
Employment Type:
Direct Hire
Job Number: 31607
Job Location: Remote
Industry: AUTO - Automotive
Job Description
Position Title: Principal Engineer, Motion Planning
Position Description: Protingent Staffing has an exciting remote Principal Engineer, Motion Planning Direct Hire opportunity.
Job Responsibilities:
Job Qualifications:
Preferred Job Qualifications:
Job Details:
About Protingent: Protingent is an Award-Winning provider of top-tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation — from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.
Position Description: Protingent Staffing has an exciting remote Principal Engineer, Motion Planning Direct Hire opportunity.
Job Responsibilities:
- Lead the research and development of novel algorithms and sub-systems for motion planning in autonomous driving, thereby expanding the Operational Design Domain. This includes, but is not limited to, advanced search-based and sophisticated geometry-based methods, as well as decision-making under uncertainty with a strong emphasis on probabilistic approaches
- Lead cross-functional projects to define new or upgrade existing interfaces to solve problems
- Monitor overall system performance to identify areas for improvement and develop technical strategies to address deficiencies
- Guide cross-functional project teams to provide comprehensive solutions and demonstrate the ability to think beyond the confines of the planning system.
- Architect and integrate complex combinations of motion planning and prediction algorithms, driving their evaluation and refinement for real-world deployment.
- Design and build a robust, scalable, and high-performance codebase that facilitates rapid exploration, prototyping, and rigorous evaluation of innovative motion planning approaches and algorithms.
- Drive technical collaboration and interface seamlessly with perception and prediction components upstream and trajectory optimization, tracking and control components downstream, ensuring end-to-end system performance.
- Leverage your deep software development and research expertise to teach others better software practices and principles, fostering a culture of technical excellence.
- Guide and mentor junior and senior team members, cultivating a culture of product-focused engineering, rigorous research, and advanced development.
Job Qualifications:
- PhD preferred in Robotics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field; or a Master's degree with 7+ years of experience in the robotics (preferably AV industry).
- 10+ years of research experience in robotics / motion planning, with a proven track record of contributing to state-of-the-art solutions and leading significant projects.
- 5+ years of C++ software development, with an emphasis on developing high-performance and reliable systems.
- Past experience owning and leading technical development on complex features from problem formulation through research, implementation, and deployment in a production environment, demonstrating significant impact.
- Thirst for knowledge, continuous innovation, and a drive to push the boundaries of autonomous driving technology, acting as a technical thought leader.
Preferred Job Qualifications:
- Experience with probabilistic models, including but not limited to Gaussian mixture models, Hidden Markov Models, and Particle Filters.
- Experience with machine learning techniques (such as Bayesian modeling and inference techniques) for decision making under uncertainty.
- Experience with the Bazel build framework.
Job Details:
- Job Type: Direct Hire
- Location: Remote
- Salary Range: $175,000-$234,250
About Protingent: Protingent is an Award-Winning provider of top-tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation — from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.
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