Senior Engineer, AV Behavior Evaluation

Motional is a leading autonomous driving company on a mission to make driverless vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. Backed by Hyundai Motor Group, Motional is at the forefront of the physical AI revolution. Motional isn’t just building first-of-its-kind technology; we are transforming transportation to create safer streets and more sustainable mobility options.

The Systems Readiness and Performance team is the crucial bridge between software development and real-world deployment. We are responsible for driving system design, for verifying and validating the autonomy stack, and for defining, measuring, and validating system performance targets. We work closely with stakeholders in autonomy, infrastructure, and operations to build the definitive safety case for the commercial launch of our fully driverless IONIQ 5 robotaxis in Las Vegas later this year.

Mission Summary:

The AV Behavior Design and Evaluation Team is responsible for owning the design and assessment of the AV behavior utilizing the concept of AV behavior competencies. The team relies on systematic decomposition of AV behavior along with data driven assessment utilizing data from on-road and simulation test modalities. We are responsible for building and operating robust, large-scale evaluation systems, alongside sophisticated simulation workflows and insightful diagnostic tools. By combining expert human judgment with advanced data driven techniques, we evaluate the system behavior performance.

As the team is looking to scale to support more and more behavioral competencies, we are looking for passionate Engineers to help build a robust framework to leverage the best of agile systems engineering and data driven performance assessment to achieve our ambitious goals in scaling our system design and evaluation processes. We are looking to work with people who are driven to design robust systems and transform complex data into measurable progress toward a safer, smarter transportation future.

This person will get to build relationships with the team as well cross-functional across organization to help build a cohesive understanding AV performance as applicable to the Behavioral Competencies.

What you'll be doing:

• Propose behavioral expectations on AV capabilities
• Support standardization of metrics used in performance evaluation for AV Capabilities to ensure consistency
• Effectively utilize existing metrics and propose the need for new metrics to evaluate AV performance in large scale simulation testing
• Propose soft/hard targets for metrics using statistical methods and back them up with driving data
• Propose and implement ideas to analyze simulation, resimulation and public road testing results for stakeholders in Systems, Autonomy, Safety etc.
• Deliver strategic insights and recommendations on projects regarding scenario-based testing
• Build meaningful visualizations and templates for the team to utilize
• Focus on automating result analysis processes and gaps, removing manual processes where applicable
• Support the development, execution, and analyses of test strategy for features validation
• Communicate test results to development teams and management and facilitate resolving of technical issues

What we're looking for:

• Bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science OR equivalent experience in in relevant industry
• Strong understanding of Autonomous Vehicle architecture and functions of key subsystems such as perception, planning, prediction etc.
• Experience with analyzing simulation and real world data for robotic systems, preferably autonomous vehicles
• Fluency in SQL or similar languages
• Fluency in data visualization techniques
• Experience in building python based projects for data analysis and insights
• Excellent interpersonal skills to build relationships with other teams
• Excellent communication skills; effective in communicating complex concepts and driving resolutions
• Self-starter who is motivated to set and achieve goals and takes initiative to drive ambiguous tasks/projects to completion

Bonus Points (not required):

• Masters degree in relevant field
• Experience using simulation tools
• Experience in evaluating Autonomous Driving Behavior using large scale data
• Familiarity with AV Behavior evaluation standards and best practices

We encourage a hybrid schedule with in-office time in Pittsburgh to support collaboration, or this role can be fully remote.

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range

$149,000—$198,500 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.

Scale up, not starting up.

Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.

Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Motional AD Inc. 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.