Senior Staff Engineer Jobs in Foster City, CA

Zoox is seeking a Sr. Staff Vehicle Control Engineer to join the Vehicle System Integration team. In this role, you will own system requirements, functional architecture, integration, and verification across end-to-end vehicle motion control systems, including drivetrain, braking, steering, and active suspension.

You will collaborate closely with vehicle integration, firmware, and component development teams to ensure reliability, performance, and safety of Zoox’s autonomous vehicle platform.

We are looking for an engineer with strong systems engineering fundamentals, deep expertise in vehicle motion control, strong system-level problem-solving skills, and a proven track record of delivering complex programs on schedule for a production Robotaxi system.

• Owner of vehicle control development for motion and body system domain.
• Leading the team to develop control strategy, algorithm design and implementation to meet vehicle performance attribute, system requirements, and address critical issues through functional safety and SFMEA process
• Developing calibration tool and method, include control algorithm implementation and tuning guide to allow vehicle attribute team for performance calibration
• Utilize agile development methodology, and Model-in-the-Loop (MIL) and Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Hardware in the Loop (HIL) testing environments for rapid integration and verification of control and FW, and ensure a working FW always available
• Manage algorithm release and control maturity plan to meet road release conditions and cover nominal and off-nominal vehicle configuration and test conditions. Improve and refine control algorithm as needed
• Engage the subsystem design and development teams to ensure the HW constraint and limitations are incorporated in plant modeling and control algorithm to achieve specific vehicle functions.
• Participate in tech reviews to evaluate potential suppliers and ensure control strategy is aligned with internal Zoox control development .
• Recognized as an expert in control strategy. Lead and support system analysis to root cause complex issues with complete product cycle.
• Develop processes, mentor and coach system integration engineers to develop domain knowledge and adopt the agile development approach.

• BS, MS, or Ph.D. degree in controls and electrical engineering, with focus on modern control theory, MPC, LQR and statement estimation
• At least 20 years of experience in systems design with 10+ years of experience in developing automotive control system, with expertise in MATLAB and Simulink for modeling control logic in rapid prototype tool and production ECU environment
• Solid foundation of vehicle dynamics, closed loop control theory and real time embedded control design
• Experience in control system release, test plan development, verification and validation methodology, and Hand-on experience with vehicle testing
• Experience with sensors and actuators in vehicle control function
• Experience with supplier control strategy integration with inhouse control development
• Working knowledge of automotive serial communication protocols (CAN/LIN/Ethernet), alongside diagnostic tools like Vector CANoe, CANalyzer
• Modern workflow toolchains like Git, Jira, and CI/CD automated test pipelines.

• Proficiency in C/C++ for writing or debugging embedded code, understanding real-time operating systems (RTOS),
• Experience in advanced embedded software architecture
• Automotive diagnostic standard (UDS)