Senior Controls Engineer - Autonomy

The Controls Team is responsible for the synthesis and execution of dynamic trajectories by the Motional Autonomous Vehicle. This team focuses on the generation of comfortable and safe trajectories for the AV to perform, the design of control systems that interface with vehicle platform actuators, and the communication interfaces that relay trajectory information to low-level control modules. The team pursues these goals through a process of rigorous algorithmic design, validation, analysis in simulation, and comprehensive closed-course and public road evaluation.

We are looking for a Senior Controls Engineer to help build a robust motion planning and control pipeline. This person will work on enabling cutting-edge capabilities for Motional’s AV, including algorithm design and documentation, software development, metrics definition, simulation implementation and evaluation, and in-vehicle testing. In the immediate term, we are expecting the candidate to support the development of the reverse driving feature of the AV from scratch. As part of this role, the team member will maintain cross-functional relationships across the organization to help understand and communicate the impacts of their work on overall AV performance.

What you will work on:

• Bringup of a reverse driving controller (longitudinal and lateral) from scratch to support reverse driving capabilities across Motional’s fleet of AVs.
• Design, implement, and test low-level controllers, state estimators, and state-machine logic that directly interface with platform sensors and actuators to produce performant, comfortable, and safe motion tracking.
• Architect and implement dynamic simulation environments that accelerate the design and analysis of motion planning and control algorithms, including validation of simulation models against real-world data.
• Integrate upstream trajectory generation and downstream motion tracking controllers through principled trajectory interface design, including generator / controller state machine logic design and trajectory communication formulation.
• Develop test/analysis tooling for isolated evaluation of motion tracking performance and incremental integration testing that incorporates upstream components (trajectory generation, planning, perception, etc.), select test parameters, and analyze test results.
• Define and implement performance, comfort, and safety metrics for motion planning and control, and perform quantitative analysis of fleet-wide vehicle data to validate design improvements and identify key areas of improvement.
• Formulate, implement, analyze, and test optimization and machine learning-based frameworks for dynamic trajectory synthesis.
• Build a system-wide understanding of Motional’s autonomy stack components by supporting root-cause analysis of simulation, closed-course, and public road events from a motion planning and control perspective.
• Travel for in-person vehicle testing at Motional’s and our partner's deployment and test track locations, typically once every 4 to 6 months.

Desired Background:

• MS, PhD preferred, in one of Control Theory / Robotics / Computer Science / Applied Math or a related field
• 3+ years of experience developing controls / motion planning related algorithms and components in an industrial setting
• Experienced with concepts from control theory, including linear/nonlinear systems, state estimation / Kalman filtering, model predictive control, data-driven system identification, time-series data processing, and data visualization
• Familiarity with numerical optimization, quadratic/conic programming, convex optimization, nonlinear programming, and non-convex optimization
• 3+ years of industry experience implementing C++/C and Python
• Familiarity with Linux-based operating systems

Bonus Points:

• Proven experience in an industry setting with the implementation of reverse driving trajectory tracking control for vehicles
• Familiarity with vehicle dynamics and modeling, including longitudinal/lateral vehicle dynamics, tire modeling, EV drive-train / steer dynamics, etc.
• General familiarity with machine learning, including supervised learning, reinforcement learning, training/test validation, etc.
• Publications in Controls/Robotics or Autonomous Driving conferences/journals (CDC, ACC, TAC, CSL, Automatica, IROS, ICRA, CoRL, RAL, TRO, IV, ITSC, T-ITS)
• Familiarity with SQL, Looker, MATLAB/SimuLink
• Familiarity with Gitlab, Bazel, VSCode / CLion
• Familiarity with AV industry simulation tooling
• Familiarity with CAN communication protocol, AUTOSAR, AURIX
• Familiarity with real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS localization

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process. Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range: $168,000 USD - $244,000 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.

Scale up, not starting up.

Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.

Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.