Principal Software Engineer, Robot 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.

About our Engineering Teams

Wayve’s Robot Software organization builds the platform that turns autonomy models into dependable, observable software running across development and customer vehicles. The work spans application frameworks, inter-process communication, logging, deployment, platform reliability, developer experience, and the interfaces between autonomy software, hardware, simulation, and fleet operations.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you’ll be a technical peer and trusted adviser to Robot Software leadership. You’ll shape the 12–24 month technical roadmap, identify the highest-leverage platform investments, and lead cross-team delivery that improves reliability and developer velocity across multiple vehicle programs.

Your day-to-day

Partner with leadership to define and continuously refine the Robot Software technical roadmap.

Lead a small number of high-impact platform initiatives from ambiguity through delivery.

Align architecture and interfaces across Robot Software, Autonomy, Simulation, Evaluation, hardware, and OEM stakeholders.

Design systems that are observable, diagnosable, and supportable from thousands of kilometres away.

Improve developer experience, pre-merge validation, logging, metrics, deployment, and fault isolation.

Mentor senior engineers and help teams reach clear, evidence-based technical decisions.

What you’ll be working on

A unified robot-software platform that can support different vehicles, compute platforms, and sensor packages.

Application-framework and IPC approaches deployed across internal and partner platforms.

Reliable platform delivery for Gen2, Gen3, Nissan prototypes, Qualcomm reference platforms, and future programmes.

Fleet observability, diagnostics, logging, and proactive reliability metrics.

Simulation and emulation approaches that shift Robot Software validation earlier in development.

Portable build and deployment strategies across Jetson, DRIVE, Qualcomm, and partner base systems.

Cross-team technical decisions where reliability, performance, developer velocity, and programme outcomes intersect.

You should apply if

You have led large technical initiatives involving multiple engineering teams or senior collaborators.

You can define architecture and strategy while remaining close enough to the code to debug difficult cross-domain problems.

You are highly proficient with modern C++ and experienced in embedded, robotics, automotive, or similarly complex systems.

You communicate concisely, build trust across teams, and can move contentious technical decisions toward evidence-based conclusions.

You think in fleet-level outcomes such as reliability, uptime, deployment speed, and operational supportability.

You are comfortable balancing deep work with critical, unplanned technical leadership needs.

Experience with Linux/QNX, robotics middleware, platform integration, simulation, embedded compute, CI/CD, or large-scale fleet operations would be valuable.

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 plus 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 a generalizable 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, more intelligent future of mobility.

Conditions

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 office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

The Interview Process:

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

Initial recruiter screen — 25 mins

Competency Interviews — Software design and hiring-manager interviews (2 hours)

Deep-dive technical interviews — Programming, domain knowledge, cross-functional partnerships and technical leadership interviews (4 hours)

Final interview — Mission and values alignment (1 hour)

We’ll always explain the format 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 the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more
• 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.