Senior Staff Customer Engineer - Automotive AI

Job Description

Job Description

At Sonatus, we're driving the transformation to AI-enabled software-defined vehicles. Traditional automotive software methods can't keep pace with consumer expectations shaped by the mobile industry—where features evolve rapidly, update seamlessly, and improve continuously. That's why leading OEMs trust Sonatus to accelerate this shift. Our technology is already in production across more than 8 million vehicles on the road today and rapidly expanding.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with 250+ employees worldwide, Sonatus combines the agility of a fast-growing company with the scale and impact of an established partner. Backed by strong funding and proven by global deployment, we're solving some of the most interesting and complex challenges in the industry. Join us and help redefine what's possible as we shape the future of mobility.

Sonatus is seeking a highly motivated Senior/Staff AI Engineer to join our Customer Engineering (CE) team and help deliver AI-driven solutions for automotive OEM and Tier-1 customers. In this role, you will work directly with customers to understand real-world challenges in their vehicle environments and translate those challenges into practical solutions using Sonatus AI technologies. A key responsibility of this role is to integrate and deploy AI capabilities on top of the Sonatus AI platform within cloud environments (Sonatus or customer-managed) while ensuring seamless interaction with vehicle-side systems and data. This position operates in a forward-deployed engineering model, working closely with customer engineering teams to deliver end-to-end solutions from problem definition to deployment.

Role and Responsibilities

• Partner with automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to identify, shape, and prioritize high-impact AI-driven use cases, guiding customers toward scalable and high-leverage solutions
• Act as a trusted advisor to customers by shaping problem definition, challenging assumptions, and guiding technical decision-making toward scalable AI solutions
• Drive alignment and adoption of solutions by clearly articulating trade-offs, ROI, and long-term architectural implications to technical and executive stakeholders
• Design, integrate, and deploy AI/ML-based solutions across cloud and in-vehicle environments, enabling end-to-end vehicle-to-cloud use cases with reliable data flow and system interoperability
• Develop and iterate AI models, PoCs, and production-ready solutions, continuously improving performance based on real-world data and customer feedback
• Lead technical discussions and solution reviews focused on AI feasibility, model performance, trade-offs, and system limitations
• Identify risks related to AI deployment and integration (e.g., data availability, security constraints, model reliability) and drive mitigation strategies
• Collaborate with internal teams (AI Platform, Product, Engineering) to enhance AI capabilities, model deployment pipelines, and platform scalability

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (Master's or PhD preferred)
• 12+ years of experience in AI / Machine Learning, Data Engineering, or related domains, with exposure to automotive software or vehicle systems
• Solid understanding of machine learning, data analytics, and AI-based systems, including practical experience delivering real-world solutions
• Experience designing and working with data pipelines, analytics workflows, and model-driven systems
• Strong experience deploying and operating software in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP, or customer-managed infrastructure)
• Experience integrating platform-based solutions with external systems, data pipelines, and APIs
• Familiarity with containerization and deployment technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes
• Strong hands-on experience developing, integrating, and deploying AI/ML-based solutions in production environments
• Proven ability to influence customer direction and drive technical decision-making in customer-facing engagements
• Experience leading technical discovery, shaping ambiguous problem spaces, and proposing scalable solution approaches
• Proven ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly and persuasively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous environments and drive clarity, alignment, and execution
• Experience in customer engineering, solution engineering, or forward-deployed engineering roles is highly preferred
• Familiarity with modern AI methodologies such as Agentic AI, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), or data-driven automation is a plus

Sunnyvale HQ Benefits & Perks Offered:

• Health care plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Flexible and Dependent Care Expense program
• Retirement plan (401k)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Unlimited paid time off per year, 14+ paid holidays
• Hybrid office work arrangement
• Complimentary lunches, snacks, and beverages during on-site working days
• Wellness benefit allowance
• Phone & Internet reimbursement
• Computer Accessory Allowance

The posted salary range is a general guideline and represents a good faith estimate of what Sonatus ("Company") could reasonably expect to pay for a base salary for this position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs. The Company reserves the right to modify this range in the future, as needed, as market conditions change.

Base Salary Pay Range

$182,000—$250,000 USD