Director, Onboard Core Software
Motional · Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Las Vegas, Nevada, United States; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States; Remote U.S.
About this role
**Motional — Director, Onboard Core Software** ## Mission Summary Lead the strategic vision and execution for the software foundation of Motional’s autonomous vehicles—from embedded firmware through the operating system, runtime, and middleware. Own the onboard software infrastructure end-to-end and serve as the primary engineering counterpart to Vehicle Platform Engineering, Autonomy, and Safety. You’ll keep the current-generation platform healthy in production while building the next-generation platform program. Own cross-cutting system behaviors such as startup sequencing, storage lifecycle, compute, ECU bring-up, and cross-layer latency to ensure safe, reliable performance and a great customer experience. ## What You’ll Be Doing - **Stack Ownership:** Own the onboard software stack from firmware through middleware, including embedded platforms (SoCs, safety MCUs, GPU compute), OS/drivers/interfaces, task runtime and compute resource management, system health monitoring, and safety/diagnostics software. - **Organizational Leadership:** Lead and develop engineering managers and technical leaders. Own hiring, leveling, performance, and career growth; build leaders who can run teams autonomously. - **Cross-Functional Accountability:** Be the main onboard software contact for stakeholder/partner teams. Set boundaries, run intake/prioritization, and handle escalations when onboard software is on the critical path. - **Delivering Quality:** Define what “done” means for onboard software at each release, including quality metrics to ensure delivery of a safe and reliable product. ## What We’re Looking For - **Education:** BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent knowledge/experience. - **Experience:** 12+ years software engineering; **5+ years** leading organizations of **40+ engineers** as a manager of managers. Software must run on physical hardware (e.g., automotive, robotics, aerospace, consumer devices). - **Systems Software Depth:** Hands-on experience building (or leading teams that built) embedded firmware, Linux kernel/BSP software, real-time middleware, or high-performance runtimes. Comfortable discussing boot sequencing, IPC latency, and resource scheduling. - **Production Operations:** Experience running software in production on a fleet/field environment—keeping a current platform healthy while bringing up the next. - **Technical Leadership:** Experience hiring, developing, and retaining talent as the organization grows. - **Cross-Organizational Ownership:** Ability to own a large area spanning many teams; build trust, work out boundaries directly, and make decisions others follow. - **Communication:** Clear writing and speaking; able to explain technical tradeoffs to executives, peers, and engineers. - **Inclusive Leadership:** Experience building inclusive teams and making room for different working styles, ideas, and backgrounds. - **Engineering Rigor:** Ability to set and hold high standards for engineering quality. ## Bonus Points (Not Required) - Functional safety experience in automotive (ISO 26262, safety MCUs, safety monitors, diagnostics) or close collaboration with safety on safety-critical requirements/designs. - High-performance, high-bandwidth, low-latency systems experience (tight timing across many subsystems). - Familiarity with physical AI ecosystems (embedded compute, sensor/runtime dependencies, training/evaluation using on-road and simulation data). - Experience in autonomous
Listing freshness
CronJobs last confirmed this listing 1h ago. If its source stops confirming the opening for seven days, this page is removed from active inventory.