Principal Software Engineer

Mission Summary We are seeking an experienced and visionary Principal Technical Lead Manager to build and lead our new AI Data Application team. This pivotal role will drive the strategy, development, and execution of initiatives aimed at significantly accelerating our ML dataset generation and data search applications. The ultimate goal is to drastically reduce the development cycle for new pipelines, ML models and get us operationally prepared for a driverless future. As a hands‑on leader, you will blend deep technical expertise in data systems and infrastructure with strong leadership and people management skills. You will recruit, mentor, and grow a high‑performing team of engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvements. What You'll Be Doing Team Leadership & Management: Build, lead, and manage a high‑performing team of full‑stack web engineers. Define team goals, priorities, and roadmap in alignment with company objectives. Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and career development opportunities to team members. Technical Strategy & Execution: Define the technical vision and strategy for building services and web platforms for storing and searching metadata and forming datasets. Define AI adoption strategy for frontend codebase and UX projects to speed up development and time to market. Identify and evaluate cutting‑edge technologies and methodologies for querying through datasets stored in various types of databases (e.g. images in vector store, metadata in Postgres, etc.) and APIs owned by several teams across the company. Cross‑functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with data mining, ML researchers, and other data platform teams to understand their needs and integrate solutions seamlessly. Communicate complex technical concepts and strategies to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders. What We're Looking For Experience: BS or MS in Computer Science or related field 8+ years of professional experience in building web applications 3+ years of experience in a technical lead or management role Extensive experience with building web applications for search and data curation needs. Extensive experience with API and query federation technologies such as GraphQL or AWS Athena. Technical Skills: Strong programming skills in Typescript and Python. Strong knowledge of modern frontend technologies such as React. Strong knowledge of building REST and gRPC based services, ideally in Python. Prior experience with building web applications for engineering or machine learning needs. Bonus Points (not required) Prior experience in autonomous vehicles (AV) is a plus. Prior experience with Bazel based build systems. Prior experience with developing frontend workflows using LLMs. Hybrid Schedule & Remote Work We encourage a hybrid schedule with in‑office time at one of our locations in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas to support collaboration, or this role can be fully remote. Salary and Benefits Salary: $240,000 – $330,000 USD per year (base salary only). Additional compensation such as bonuses or equity may be included. Benefits: medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company match, health savings accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more. Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Equal Opportunity Employer Statement Motional is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly‑hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility. #J-18808-Ljbffr