Principal Software Engineer, Vehicle Dynamics Simulation - AV (Santa Clara)

At NVIDIA, we are advancing autonomous vehicle development through scalable simulation, AI, and thorough validation. Our Autonomous Vehicle Simulation team builds systems that help engineers develop, test, debug, and improve driving behavior before it reaches the road. We connect planner and controller intent to realistic motion across highway, city, parking, and active-safety scenarios. In this Principal-level individual contributor role, you’ll shape a production vehicle dynamics simulation framework spanning model fidelity, parameter adaptation, software interfaces, validation, and integration. Join us in making demanding maneuvers—from low-speed parking to evasive steering and hard braking—more faithful in simulation!What you’ll be doing:Be responsible for the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for vehicle dynamics simulation across highway, city, parking, active-safety, and low-speed workflows.Develop production-quality C++ interfaces for simplified, replay-based, and high-fidelity multibody models.Create scalable model-selection, parameter-identification, adaptation, and validation workflows for diverse vehicle platforms.Translate trajectory and control commands into time-aligned motion, state, and diagnostic outputs.Establish model parameters, software boundaries, regression metrics, compatibility practices, and release gates.Partner with planning and controls, parking, active safety, simulation reliability, synthetic data, and product teams.Set technical standards, mentor engineers, and supply hands-on through design, implementation, debugging, testing, and documentation.What we need to see:Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).15+ years of relevant industry experience.Deep knowledge of longitudinal and lateral vehicle dynamics, tire-road interaction, steering, braking, actuator limits, latency, saturation, kinematic and dynamic bicycle models, multi-degree-of-freedom dynamics, multibody simulation, and tire models such as Pacejka Magic Formula, Fiala, FTire, or TMeasy.Strong C++ skills for production software and Python skills for analysis, validation, data processing, tooling, and test automation.A record of building modular, testable production systems for simulation, computer-aided engineering, robotics, autonomous vehicles, automotive controls, or physics-based software.Proven ability to calibrate and validate simulation models using measured logs, test-track data, controlled maneuvers, or simulation benchmarks while maintaining deterministic behavior and regression coverage.Principal-level technical leadership and clear communication across multidisciplinary engineering and product teams.Ways to stand out from the crowd:Experience with Project Chrono and Chrono::Vehicle, CARLA, CarSim, CarMaker, Simulink and Simscape, ADAMS, Simbody, BeamNG, Unreal Engine and PhysX, or comparable simulation frameworks.Success integrating multibody and parameterized model families across vehicle architectures, payloads, tire and road conditions, parking behavior, or original equipment manufacturer and supplier workflows.Familiarity with Protocol Buffers, gRPC, API and ABI compatibility, Bazel, CMake, containerized simulation, continuous integration, CUDA, validation dashboards, or high-performance numerical computing.We value different paths to technical excellence and welcome candidates who bring strong judgment, curiosity, and a collaborative approach. Come build the future of autonomous vehicle simulation with us!Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 248,000 USD - 391,000 USD.You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.Applications for this job will be accepted at least until July 21, 2026.This posting is for an existing vacancy. NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.SummaryLocation: US, CA, Santa ClaraType: Full time