Senior Software Engineer, Data Engineering

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.

Mission Summary:

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.

The Senior Software Engineer, Data Engineering role is a high-impact position focused on building the scalable data infrastructure, developer tools, and cloud platform that underpins the organization's systems-level performance tracking. The mission of the team is to provide robust infrastructure and scalable tooling for producing, processing, and analyzing systems metrics at a massive scale, thereby accelerating the development of safe and reliable autonomous technology. The engineer will be responsible for creating essential components like CLI tools, web apps, cloud infrastructure, and SDKs for the metrics platform. Success in this role requires technical vision, an architectural mindset, and strong communication skills, as the Senior Software Engineer will act as a foundational pillar for the team, authoring design documents, driving engineering best practices, and architecting scalable solutions.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Design & Architect: Author comprehensive technical design documents to propose, evaluate, and implement scalable infrastructure and tooling solutions.


• Tooling & SDK Development: Build intuitive internal CLI tools, web applications, and Python-based SDKs leveraging Ray to streamline how engineers produce and interact with systems-level metrics.


• Cloud Infrastructure: Architect, deploy, and maintain robust cloud infrastructure on AWS to support high-throughput data processing and analytics.


• Data Pipeline Engineering: Leverage modern data tooling and formats (dbt, Apache Iceberg / Parquet, Redshift) to build highly efficient data pipelines, surfacing data effectively to BI platforms (Looker).


• CI/CD & Containerization: Champion continuous integration and deployment best practices using GitLab, while deploying scalable services and workloads using containerization technologies.


• Mentorship & Leadership: Act as a technical pillar on the team. Establish standards, mentor peers, and grow into a technical lead role guiding the future roadmap of our metrics infrastructure.

What We're Looking For:

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with a strong focus on backend, data infrastructure, or platform engineering.


• Deep expertise in Python, particularly in building scalable backend systems, SDKs, and CLI tools.


• Proven experience working within AWS, data warehouses like Redshift, and open-source data formats like Iceberg and Parquet.


• Experience working with DBT for data transformations and interacting with BI platforms like Looker.


• Hands-on experience with Ray for scaling Python workloads.


• Strong familiarity with containerization (Docker/Kubernetes) and setting up robust CI/CD pipelines via GitLab.


• Demonstrated ability to write clear, concise, and thorough technical design documents and lead architecture reviews.

Bonus Points (not required):

• Prior experience working in data engineering pipelines for IoT / telemetry / sensors.


• Experience working with autonomous vehicle data.

Success Metrics:

• Successful creation of comprehensive technical design documents for scalable infrastructure solutions.


• Development of intuitive internal CLI tools, web apps, and Python-based SDKs.


• Deployment and maintenance of robust cloud infrastructure on AWS supporting high-throughput processing.


• Establishment of engineering standards and effective mentorship of peers on the team.

This is a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact at Motional by enhancing our data platform and accelerating development speed for our industry-leading autonomous vehicle metrics and capabilities ecosystem. We take pride in having some of the brightest and most dedicated talent in the world on our team. If you're innovative, driven, and eager to tackle challenges, we'd love to have you join us!

Physical Demands:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, talk, or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and at times for long periods; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and move up to 50 pounds.

Travel Requirements (greater than 20%) :

Expected to travel for 1-2 weeks each quarter visiting all of our testing sites - mostly to LV, but also domestically as needed for the business.

Working Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here represent those a team member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The team member is regularly exposed to mechanical and computer parts. The team member is occasionally exposed to fumes and/or airborne particlesThe noise level in the environment is low to moderate. 

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.

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.