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Zoox

Senior Staff Software Engineer, Spatial AI

Zoox is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer, Spatial AI in Seattle, United States. It pays $410k-$492k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Zoox.

Level's read on this job

  • Level rates this software engineer role Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
  • The listed pay starts 146% above the typical software engineer posting on Level.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include computer vision.
  • Level classifies it as a lead role.
  • Level lists 228 other open roles at Zoox.

AI in this role

computer-vision
Be the visionary Perception Architect designing the sensory "nervous system" for our next generation of autonomous products. Evolve our end-to-end perception architecture, serving as the essential liaison between Sensing teams and the core ML system. Drive architectural evolution toward next-generation sensing and compute platforms by influencing Hardware-Software Co-Design.

In this role, you will:

  • System Synthesis: Define the end-to-end perception architecture—assess new sensing (LiDAR, Radar, Camera) to the final fused world model.
  • Hardware-Software Co-Design: Partner with Compute and Sensing teams to influence the design, ensuring our algorithms have the "computational oxygen" they need.
  • Algorithmic Strategy: Lead the transition from current pipelines to AI innovation pipelines, while maintaining the safety and interpretability required for edge deployment.
  • Future-Proofing: Evaluate emerging technologies and determine their viability for the 3-5 year roadmap.
  • Performance Budgeting: Collaborate on rigorous metrics for latency and accuracy across diverse edge-computing environments.
  • Lead cross functional teams: to create a viable plan to move to new platforms and unlock further technical capabilities for Perception systems. Coordinate projects across partner teams to make sure work is aligned with the overall org direction.

Qualifications

  • Education: Ph.D. or MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with a focus on Computer Vision.
  • Experience: 8+ years in autonomous systems with at least 2 years in an architectural role, shipping and evolving perception systems
  • Deep Domain Expertise: Mastery of systems focused on Computer Vision, Deep learning, Foundational models, Sensor Fusion, and State Estimation (SLAM, EKF/UKF). Deep understanding of sensor modalities and their impact to perception/autonomy systems, including: Camera, lidar, radar.
  • Platform Proficiency: Deep understanding of hardware acceleration, component budgeting and transition to new platforms.
  • Mathematical Rigor: Strong foundation in 3D geometry, linear algebra, and probabilistic robotics.
  • Hands on Skills: Proficiency in C++ (production-grade) and Python (rapid prototyping). Ability to run experiments across system components and run metrics platforms.
  • Soft Skills: Curious, Data driven, with ability to translate complex technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders and executive leadership.

How we rate this

Senior Staff Software Engineer, Spatial AI at Zoox rates 86 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Computer vision

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$410k
Typical software engineer job
$167k

This posting starts 146% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
  2. How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
  3. Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Computer vision. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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