Senior Software Engineer - Autonomous Systems (Equity)

About AIM

Everything humanity depends on is mined, dug, or grown. At AIM, we are building the autonomous linchpin of civilization. We transform heavy machinery—bulldozers, loaders, excavators—into AI-powered fleets that operate continuously, safely, and at peak performance in the world’s harshest environments.

AIM runs production mines, large scale infrastructure builds, and defense operations as a TRL9 hardened system, not a science experiment.

Built by engineers from mining, construction, Waymo, SpaceX, Google and Tesla, AIM enables scalable earthmoving, turbocharging the global economy’s physical foundation. AIM is backed by some of the most sophisticated capital in the world, including General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Elad Gil, Human Capital, Ironspring Ventures, Mantis, DCVC.

About The Role

About you
You're a builder who thrives in the intersection of software, robotics, and the physical world. You write clean, simple, reliable code - and you're motivated by solving hard technical problems that have direct, real-world impact. You love architecting systems that work reliably in production, you dive deep into debugging and performance, and you have strong judgment about technical trade-offs.

You're equally comfortable writing production code, designing distributed systems, improving developer workflows, or debugging complex interactions across services, edge compute, and sensor interfaces. You take ownership - not just of your code, but of the business and customer outcomes that code enables. You push for rigor, testability, operational excellence, and high engineering standards.

You want to work on problems where correctness, safety, reliability, and performance matter. And you want to do it with a world-class team that values clarity, customer obsession, and engineering excellence.

About us together

We're going to change how the world builds. Along the way, we'll face hard engineering challenges:

• real-time constraints on edge compute

• perception, control, and autonomy pipeline interactions

• distributed configuration and update systems

• safety-critical code paths with zero-tolerance for failure

• field variability and environmental unpredictability

• data quality, observability, and serviceability across global deployments

We will debate solutions, iterate quickly, confront the truth when things don't work, and build mechanisms that scale with quality. We'll write software that works not only in simulation or staging - but in sand, mud, cold, heat, vibration, shock loads, and the real operations our customers depend on.

If that excites you - you're the kind of Senior SWE who will thrive here.

Responsibilities

What you will own

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will design and build the core systems that power AIM's autonomous machines and global fleet operations.

Architect & Build Systems (Distributed, Edge, Cloud)

• Architect and implement critical components of AIM's autonomy software stack, spanning edge compute, cloud services, and on-premise systems.

• Design systems that meet real-time constraints and operate reliably in unpredictable physical environments.

• Build frameworks, APIs, and services that simplify integration across autonomy, controls, perception, and robotics infrastructure.

Deliver High-Quality, Production-Ready Software

• Write clean, testable, maintainable code using modern software engineering principles.

• Drive improvements in code quality, reliability, observability, and debuggability.

• Lead code reviews, design reviews, and architectural discussions.

Improve System Performance & Reliability

• Optimize compute, memory, networking, and inter-process performance across diverse environments.

• Identify systemic issues, root causes, and long-term architectural improvements.

Own End-to-End Execution

• Work with TPMs, Systems, Autonomy, Hardware, and Field Ops to ensure your software works reliably on real machines.

• Partner with FDEs to understand field realities and incorporate operational truth back into the codebase.

• Drive root-cause analysis and elimination of recurring defects.

Raise the Engineering Bar

• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers.

• Improve developer experience, CI/CD, test frameworks, and local development tooling.

• Help define SWE excellence and engineering mechanisms across the org.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent hands-on experience.

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering production systems.

• Strong coding ability in one or more languages: Python, C++, Go, Rust, TypeScript.

• Experience architecting or developing distributed systems, real-time systems, or large-scale production software.

• Experience with cloud technologies, databases, and service-oriented architectures.

• Ability to design systems for reliability, modularity, safety, testability, and maintainability.

• Strong debugging skills using logs, telemetry, metrics, and tracing tools.

• Ability to work across hardware/software interfaces and reason about real-world system behavior.

• Proven track record of delivering high-quality software independently and as part of cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with robotics, autonomy, or real-world deployed systems (perception, controls, mapping, localization).

• Experience with distributed compute on edge devices or ruggedized hardware.

• Comfort with Linux systems programming, IPC, networking, or real-time constraints.

• Experience with numerical or ML libraries (NumPy, CuPy, PyTorch).

• Experience with CI/CD, config management, or DevOps tooling.

• Experience working with embedded devices, sensors, or firmware.

• Experience with serviceability, observability, or building systems that operate in high-entropy environments.

• Ability to simplify complex systems and drive architectural clarity.

How you'll stand out

• You write remarkably clean code and design systems that are simple, maintainable, and scalable.

• You connect software decisions to real-world customer outcomes and machine behavior.

• You bring a strong safety and reliability mindset to your work.

• You turn ambiguity into well-structured, well-architected solutions.

• You elevate engineering rigor through mentorship, documentation, and clear communication.

• You operate confidently across autonomy, distributed systems, hardware interfaces, and field constraints.

What we offer

• Opportunity to build software that directly shapes the future of autonomy and heavy equipment robotics.

• High-impact ownership across AIM's autonomy stack and global deployments.

• Collaboration with world-class engineers across software, autonomy, hardware, and robotics.

• Competitive compensation, equity, medical/dental/vision, 401(k), life insurance.

• Travel opportunities to customer jobsites across the U.S., Australia, Europe, Africa, South America, and more.

  Why AIM?

  Joining AIM, You Will

  • Solve a massive set of real-world problems that require scalable earth moving

  • Accomplish that via deploying and expanding cutting edge tech

  • Run your workstreams with the largest degree of autonomy

  • Have an opportunity for rapid growth and a large voice on the direction of the company

  • Receive company funded medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance, gourmet food & perks

  • Experience a strong onsite collaboration (AIM offices, labs and proving grounds on the east side of the Greater Seattle area)

  • Have an opportunity to travel to unique sites around the world (Americas, Australia, Africa & more)

#J-18808-Ljbffr