Senior Staff Software Engineer - Mapping and Localization

Who We Are

Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling semi-trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins Aurora Horizon and Aurora Connect, its driver-as-a-service products for trucking and ride-hailing. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including Toyota, FedEx, Volvo Trucks, PACCAR, Uber, Uber Freight, U.S. Xpress, Werner, Covenant, Schneider, and Ryder. For Aurora’s latest news, visit aurora.tech and @aurora_inno on Twitter.

Aurora hires talented people with diverse backgrounds who are ready to help build a transportation ecosystem that will make our roads safer, get crucial goods where they need to go, and make mobility more efficient and accessible for all.

We’re searching for a Senior Staff Software Engineer - Map Build Group

The Tech Lead (TL) role at Aurora blends technical accountability for departmental outcomes with deeply contributing to the technical delivery of Aurora’s biggest challenges. The TL for Offboard Mapping will use LIDAR point clouds, GNSS, IMUs, cameras, radars, and Aurora’s in-house sensors to build scalable mapping solutions for Aurora’s most challenging environments. Some key metrics that you’ll be accountable for will include the accuracy, agility, scalability, and reliability of your offboard mapping processes, as well as partnership in the metrics for online Mapping and Localization accuracy and map usefulness by downstream teams (such as Autonomy Perception’s use of mapping representations).

In this role, you will

• Have a great deal of creative freedom to both invent new solutions and apply well-known solutions for our most impactful problems.
• Be expected to contribute technically by participating in software development, driving technical design, and setting the direction of the team.
• Collaborate with program managers, partner teams, and Aurora Autonomy leadership team to identify problems, build technical roadmaps for addressing those challenges, and ultimately create SW solutions with your team.
• Drive and report your projects’ progress to the wider leadership team, identify and resolve roadblocks, and generally deliver successful outcomes on time. The success of the team depends on many contributing factors.
• Be expected to guide the culture of your team as you execute on Aurora’s mission. This can include items such as leading team standups, ensuring thorough team review of progress & objectives, creating written development specifications for your team, leading technical deep dives & code reviews, and performing software development and data analysis.

Required Qualifications

• Applied expertise in areas related to robotics, SLAM, bundle adjustment, numerical optimization, computer vision, machine learning, meshing algorithms, and cloud computing.
• Experience leading a team both technically and in a managerial capacity.
• Demonstrated track record of success in leading large and impactful projects.
• Deep experience in SW development.
• Strong background in production-level systems (this is not a research position…).
• Passion for bringing Autonomous Vehicles to production.

Desirable Qualifications

• Masters/PhD may bring valuable experience and theoretical background.

The base salary range for this position is $212,000-$340,000 per year. Aurora’s pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, the successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on factors including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, relevant education or training, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future. The successful candidate will also be eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and benefits.

Working at Aurora

At Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together — all without any jerks.

We have offices in several locations across the United States, where we encourage team and cross-functional collaboration. Aurora offers competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits, and additional healthcare support including medical transportation reimbursement, fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits. We empower our employees and their families with options to further their unique physical, mental, and financial well-being.

Our Learning and Development offerings include Aurora Academy, where our people learn, develop, and practice the essential skills that drive Aurora’s mission, continually up-leveling our team along the way. Our Careers page provides insight into career opportunities at Aurora, and you can find all the latest news on our Blog.

Safety is central to everything we do. Every employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. We seek candidates who take active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization's long-term success by working safely — no matter what.

We believe that self-driving technology has broad benefits – including increased access to transportation. To realize those benefits, we need a workforce with diverse experiences, insights, and perspectives — a workforce that reflects the communities our technology will serve.

Aurora is committed to providing access to anyone who seeks information from our website. We invite anyone using assistive technologies, such as a screen reader or Braille reader, to email us at if they experience difficulty using our website. Please describe the accessibility problem and include a URL (if available).

Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at

For California applicants, information collected and processed as part of your application and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Aurora’s California Employment Privacy Policy.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At Aurora, every employee is empowered to take an active role in building an inclusive, collaborative, and unified culture that leverages our diverse strengths, perspectives, and backgrounds.

Transforming how the world moves people and goods involves seeking to understand backgrounds, insights, and lived experiences that differ from our own. One way we accomplish that is with our 15 employee-led Aurora Unified Groups, which support diverse voices and drive inclusive collaboration. We believe that teamwork, belonging, and trust motivate and support our employees to do their best work. As our team grows, we strive to attract and retain exceptional talent that adds new perspectives and experiences and continues to drive innovation. Learn more on our Culture Page.

We are committed to helping qualified military community members leverage their talents in service of our mission. To understand how your military experience aligns with career opportunities at Aurora, review your military job classification at MyNextMove.org and consider applying for open positions corresponding to your identified skills and experiences!