Distinguished Engineer, Embedded Vehicle Software

Description

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

Distinguished Engineer, Vehicle Software

Sunnyvale, California, USA

About our Engineering Teams

Wayve’s Vehicle Software organization builds the embedded software foundations that connect our AI Driver to production vehicle hardware.

As a Distinguished Engineer in Vehicle Software, you’ll define the architecture and provide technical leadership for the next generation of Wayve’s vehicle software stack. You’ll work with advanced embedded compute platforms from NVIDIA, Qualcomm and other technology partners, shaping our operating-system and automotive-middleware roadmap to support state-of-the-art AI systems for autonomous driving.

This is a highly senior technical leadership role centered on architecture, hands-on technical judgement and broad influence. You’ll work across internal engineering teams, global automotive manufacturers and silicon partners to turn complex requirements into scalable, production-ready systems.

Your day-to-day

You’ll establish the technical vision for Wayve’s embedded vehicle software and guide major architectural decisions affecting teams across the organization.

You’ll remain close to the technology—reviewing designs, exploring critical technical problems and helping teams make sound decisions across operating systems, middleware, performance, reliability and hardware integration.

You’ll also represent Wayve in strategic technical discussions with automotive manufacturers, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and other partners. Internally, you’ll mentor senior engineers, influence engineering leadership and help establish the development practices, tools and architectural principles needed to scale.

What you’ll be working on

Defining embedded software architectures for advanced autonomous-driving systems

Shaping the operating-system, middleware and hardware-abstraction roadmap for Wayve’s next-generation autonomy platform

Improving system architecture, performance, reliability and scalability

Evaluating and integrating advanced embedded compute platforms from NVIDIA, Qualcomm and other partners

Collaborating across Vehicle Software, AI, hardware, systems, safety and OEM programme teams

Working directly with automotive customers and external technology partners to deliver production-ready solutions

Representing Wayve in technical discussions with OEM software and hardware architects

Serving as Wayve’s senior technical representative in discussions with silicon partners

Advocating for best-in-class software-development processes, architecture practices and engineering tools

Mentoring senior engineers and helping shape the technical direction of the Vehicle Software organisation

Leading complex, cross-functional technical programmes spanning multiple teams and organisations

You should apply if

You have at least 15 years of professional software-development experience

You are an expert in embedded systems applied to robotics, autonomous systems or similarly complex products

You have successfully delivered complex embedded systems into production at scale

You have strong software-development experience in one or more of C, C++, Python or Rust

You have professional experience with systems-performance analysis, optimisation and tuning

You have led or significantly influenced complex technical programmes involving approximately 100 or more engineers, including contributors outside your direct reporting structure

You can establish technical direction and influence senior engineering and business leadership

You are comfortable working directly with external stakeholders, including automotive manufacturers and technology partners

You can represent Wayve as the primary technical leader in discussions with OEM software, hardware and chipset architects

You can translate complex technical constraints into clear architectural decisions and bring multiple teams with you

The following experience would be useful but is not required:

Automotive software or vehicle-platform development

NVIDIA Drive platforms, including Orin, DriveOS or DriveWorks

Automotive software frameworks such as AUTOSAR

Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay. If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.

More about Wayve

Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end-to-end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real-world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale.

Instead of relying on hand-coded rules or pre-mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency.

We believe autonomy represents a once-in-a-generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars and from human-driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware-agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2+ through to L4 as our core AI model scales.

In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real-world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach: building generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer and more intelligent future of mobility.

Conditions

This is a full-time role based in our Sunnyvale office.

Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated offices and workshops with focused time working remotely.

We also operate core working hours, allowing you to determine the schedule that works best for you and the teams you support. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together alongside the flexibility to do their best work.

The interview process

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

Initial recruiter conversation

Hiring manager conversation

Competency Interviews

Technical interviews

Final interview — mission and values alignment

We’ll explain each format in advance and work around your availability.

Benefits

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long-term success of Wayve
• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable
• Hybrid working, core hours and opportunities to work hands-on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets, with support for training, conferences and professional growth
• Comprehensive benefits, including health insurance, dental coverage, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement support where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more
• This role is a full-time role based in Sunnyvale, CA (hybrid) and the reasonably estimated salary for this role ranges from $347,500 to $437,900, plus a competitive equity package. Actual compensation is based on the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience.
• A quick, honest note before you apply.
• Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.
• If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you.
• At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.
• For more information visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve
• DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.