Senior/Staff Behavior Planning Engineer

Job description

<h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Who we are</span></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.&nbsp;</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.&nbsp;</span></p> <h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">About the role</span></h3> <div> <div> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We’re seeking Senior or Staff Engineers to help build the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles, enabling safe and intelligent decision-making. The role involves designing behavior tree architectures, developing robust C++ infrastructure, collaborating across autonomy teams, evaluating planner performance, and providing technical leadership within the team.</span></p> </div> <div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Mountain View, CA office!</span></div> </div> <div> <h3 class="section page-centered"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><strong>What you'll do</strong></span></h3> <div class="section page-centered"> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Design, implement, and maintain the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles, enabling intelligent, interpretable, and safe decision-making in complex real-world scenarios.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Develop and extend behavior tree architectures for hierarchical decision logic, including support for mission planning, tactical maneuvers, and contingency handling.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Collaborate closely with the motion planning, prediction, and control teams to ensure seamless transitions from high-level decisions to executable trajectories.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Build and optimize C++-based software infrastructure for behavior planning, including tools for simulation, debugging, visualization, and closed-loop testing.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Evaluate planner performance in diverse real-world and simulated environments; identify failure modes and develop strategies to improve robustness and generalization.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Participate in design reviews and system integration across the full autonomy stack.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance for junior team members.</li> </ul> </div> <h3 class="section page-centered"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><strong>What we're looking for</strong></span></h3> <div class="section page-centered" data-qa="closing-description"> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Ph.D. with 3+ years or Master’s with 5+ years of industry experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or behavior planning.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Proven experience in behavior planning, including use of behavior trees, finite state machines, or rule-based planners in autonomous driving or robotics applications.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Strong proficiency in C++ with a deep understanding of performance, memory management, and software architecture in production systems.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Solid understanding of motion planning and prediction interfaces, with experience building real-time, safety-critical systems.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Knowledge of diffusion models and/or Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models is a strong plus.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Strong debugging, system thinking, and collaborative communication skills.</li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000</span></p> <h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">More about Gatik</span></h3> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the <em>first and only</em> company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy.&nbsp; By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Visit us at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://gatik.ai/">Gatik</a></span> for more company information and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://gatik.ai/careers/">Careers at Gatik</a></span> for more open roles.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Notable News</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Forbes: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/09/05/forget-robotaxis-upstart-gatik-sees-middle-mile-deliveries-as-the-path-to-profitable-avs/?sh=52b7a7866e61">Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Tech Brew: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.emergingtechbrew.com/stories/2024/09/06/gatik-ai-richard-steiner-regulations-av-industry">Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Business Wire: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241008155613/en/Gatik-Paves-the-Way-for-Safe-Driverless-Operations-%E2%80%98Freight-Only%E2%80%99-at-Scale-with-Industry-First-Third-Party-Safety-Assessment-Framework">Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Auto Futures: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.autofutures.tv/news-features/autonomous-trucking-group-gatik-secures-investment-from-nippon-express-holdings/s/e125e5df-220b-42b6-b2df-754f54d602a9">Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Automotive News: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report/gatik-prepares-launch-self-driving-trucks-scale">Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Forbes: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2024/05/30/isuzu-and-gatik-go-all-in-to-scale-up-driverless-freight-services/">Isuzu And Gatik Go All In To Scale Up Driverless Freight Services</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Bloomberg: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-05-24/a