Staff Autonomy Software Engineer, Localization

Kodiak AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: KDK), founded in 2018, is a leader in Physical AI, developing driverless technology that powers machines that move. Its Kodiak Driver is a vehicle-agnostic autonomous driving system that combines AI-powered software with modular hardware. Today it operates in long-haul trucking, industrial trucking, and defense. In 2024, Kodiak launched commercial Driver-as-a-Service operations with no one in the cab, and plans to launch driverless long-haul service between Dallas and Houston by the end of 2026.

Kodiak has partnered with many of the biggest names in freight, including Bosch for scaled hardware production, AWS, and leading customers including Atlas Energy Solutions, IKEA, Bridgestone, Werner Enterprises, C.R. England, Roehl Transport, and General Dynamics Land Systems.

We are looking for a Staff Engineer on our Calibration, Localization and Mapping (CLAM) team — a technical leader with deep expertise in state estimation, inertial navigation, and sensed odometry who can set technical direction across the team and organization.

In this role, you will:

• Set the technical strategy and architecture for our onboard navigation and pose estimation systems.

• Lead the design and development of advanced sensor fusion and pose estimation approaches across IMU, camera, and lidar sensors, anticipating failure modes before they arise in the field.

• Drive the direction of visual and lidar odometry algorithms, including evaluating build-vs-adopt tradeoffs for new techniques.

• Define and evangelize navigation metrics and evaluation methodology used across the org to assess algorithm and system performance.

• Serve as a technical escalation point for complex, ambiguous, or cross-cutting localization problems.

• Evaluate sensor performance and optimize sensor selection.

• Verify correct sensor calibrations, settings, and uncertainty characterizations.

What you’ll bring:

• Strong technical background. BS, MS or PhD with academic or industry experience in building navigation, localization, and odometry systems.

• Expert in C++ and strong problem-solving skills.

• Strong software engineering skills and experience building high-reliability deployed applications . You write well-designed, highly maintainable code. Code is your craft.

• Deep experience transforming raw sensor data from GNSS, IMU, wheel speed, etc. into 6-DOF pose using Kalman Filtering, factor graphs, or comparable state estimation techniques — and judgment on when each approach is appropriate.

• Experience with computer vision, visual odometry, and/or odometry from point clouds