Director of Actions

Position Overview

• Location Type: [Not specified]
• Job Type: [Not specified]
• Salary: [Not specified]

Motional is seeking a visionary and technically deep Director of Software Engineering to lead our global Planning & Controls team. This team is responsible for designing and delivering critical software that powers decision-making and low-level actuation for our Level 4 autonomous vehicles. In this role, you’ll drive both the technical strategy and execution for real-time path planning, trajectory generation, and control systems — ensuring safe, reliable, and intelligent driving behaviors under real-world constraints.

• Team Size: 30–40 Engineers (Global) You will report directly to senior Autonomy leadership and collaborate closely with the Behaviors organization as well as Perception, Simulation, Localization, Systems Engineering, and Safety to build a world-class robotaxi platform.

Responsibilities

• Lead a global software organization (30–40 engineers and managers) across Planning and Controls teams responsible for AV motion planning, trajectory generation, and actuation logic.
• Define and execute the technical roadmap aligned with Motional’s product and operational milestones.
• Balance cutting-edge research with robust productization to ensure your team’s software performs safely and reliably in dynamic, complex environments.
• Work tightly with the Behaviors organization to ensure Planning and Controls tightly integrate with upstream prediction and ML-based trajectory generation.
• Develop and track KPIs, performance metrics, and OKRs to continuously evaluate software robustness, operational efficiency, and team output.
• Cultivate a culture of engineering excellence, strong code quality, and deep technical ownership.
• Mentor, develop, and grow a high-performing engineering team across multiple geographies and disciplines.
• Provide strategic input on long-term architectural decisions, technical debt remediation, and investment areas.
• Be a key partner to the senior leadership within the company to help solve challenging problems in a collaborative manner.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with at least 5+ years leading teams in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or a related field.
• A track record of shipping production-quality planning and controls software for autonomous systems or highly constrained robotics applications.
• Strong expertise in trajectory planning, behavioral decision making, and motion control algorithms.
• Deep understanding of real-time systems, vehicle dynamics, and robotic control theory.
• Experience managing global, distributed engineering teams in a high-growth, mission-critical environment.
• Proficiency in C++, and a strong background in Linux-based development, software architecture, and scalable infrastructure.
• Experience collaborating with research teams and translating innovation into deployable, testable, and maintainable codebases.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and align diverse technical contributors.
• Master’s or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

Bonus Points

• Experience with machine learning applied to planning or behavior modeling.
• Prior contributions to open-source autonomy projects or publications in top robotics conferences (e.g., ICRA, RSS, CVPR).
• Familiarity with simulation-driven development, large-scale testing infrastructure, and AV safety frameworks.

Why Join Us?

• Lead one of the most critical teams powering Motional’s next-generation AV platform.
• Join a mission-driven organization focused on transforming mobility through autonomy.
• Collaborate with world-class researchers, engineers, and product leaders in a fast-paced, supportive environment.
• Enjoy competitive compensation, equity, and benefits as part of a rapidly scaling organization with global reach.
• Make real-world impact by helping to launch commercial AV services in cities around the world.

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a [Not specified]