Senior AI Engineer - Must have experience with Autonomous Driving (No OPT/CPT)

Role Summary

The Center of Excellence within the ADMT LLC focuses on applied research and pre-development with the goal to evaluate and / or develop and transfer innovative technology from industries and research institutions into the autonomous driving domain for technology / supplier decisions and to build the strategic base for a further development of a VW Group owned vertical integrated AD-stack.

This specific role has the main focus areas :

• To know and understand the future of AI and to derive requirements on sensor technologies and compute architectures / technologies
• To develop reference processes, methods and tools need to enable, scale and industrialize MaaS / TaaS applications
• To implement those and define KPI to evaluate and benchmark these enablers for autonomous driving
• To conduct benchmarks and assessments
• To collaborate with internal and external partners

Role Responsibilities :

Software Development and Testing

• Maintains, as well as furthers, and enhances existing machine learning modules for autonomous vehicles, not necessarily the software stack for driving but methods around industrialization of MaaS / TaaS and with that to increase availability of service.
• Designs and implements new machine learning based approaches based on existing frameworks
• Keeps up to speed with the state of the art of academic research and technology in the industry
• Tests developed modules in the prototype vehicle (unit tests, integration tests, in-vehicle / field tests, etc.)
• Analyzes and evaluates conducted tests
• Presents project / progress reports and presentations to top management, mentors, partners, and project affiliates
• Transfers technologies and solutions to ADMT GmbH, CARIAD
• Manages and coordinates the tech scouting process

Network Development

• Expands research network between ADMT LLC and local entities
• Initiates and implements partnerships with external partners (companies, research institutions, universities) within Silicon Valley and US
• Transfers project outcomes to internal Volkswagen Group partners (ADMT GmbH, CARIAD)
• Communicates regularly and influences partners in Germany

Strategic Management

Secures intellectual property

Qualifications

Years of Relevant Experience :

7+ years post-grad professional work experience

Required Education :

• Master’s degree in computer science or equivalent
• PhD strongly preferred

Skills :

• Strong technical background of different machine learning algorithms
• Strong project management and business development skills
• Communication & documentation skills
• Problem solving skills
• Analytical skills
• Conceptual thinking skills
• Integration - joining people, processes or systems
• Excellent verbal and writing skills
• Detailed knowledge of autonomous driving and software technologies
• Strong attention to detail

Required Specialized Skills

• Must have experience with algorithm development for Autonomous Driving tasks including Perception, Sensor Fusion, Motion Prediction, Path Planning, End-to-End Driving, Simulation, V2X Software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies & technical skills
• Background in Deep Neural Network Learning, Computer Vision and Machine Learning
• Strong programming skills with Python and TensorFlow / Pytorch PyTorch on on-premises compute and public clouds (e.g. AWS), Knowledge of generating features from sensor technology like camera, lidar, radar, GPS / D-GPS and HD maps
• Experience with data gathering, data quality, system architecture, coding best practices
• Take initiative to launch projects with the ability to quickly learn and develop own ideas in an interdisciplinary environment
• Extracting high level logical structure from low level, multi-dimensional data
• Experience with different types of Neural Networks such as Transformers, CNNs, RNNLLMs, LSTMs, GNNs,
• Experience with different ML paradigms such as supervised / unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning, self-supervised learning, and imitation learning paradigms and the latest research trends
• Specification / Documentation of interfaces between software modules.
• Programming languages / tools as Python, C++, Python, LaTex, Bash, Cmake, Git, Linux, familiar with data structures and algorithms, machine learning and math
• Knowledge in using open-source libraries : OpenCV, OpenGL, TensorRT, Open3D, CUDA, Open3D, PCL
• Project Management & leadership
• Experience running one or more projects simultaneously.
• Project managing tasks - manage timelines, budgets, resource planning, risk etc.
• Effective at communicating with teams across cultures and in different times zones

Desired Specialized Skills

• Experience with current state-of-the-art technologies such as Vision-Language Models, Neural Radiance Fields, Embodied AI, Deep Sensor Fusion, Generative AI
• Experience with AI / ML compute optimization techniques such as quantization, knowledge distillation, compilation, sparse computing
• Experience in programming concepts : Data filters / pipelines, multi-threading, programming for various types of SoC, real-time systems
• Experience in a regulated industries such as automotive, aerospace, medical devices etc.
• Experience in one or more of the following technical areas :
• Compute architectures and technologies
• Sensor technologies
• Robotics
• Broad knowledge of full vehicle interrelationship automotive systems and interfaces between them
• High level of engagement and self-initiative

Work Flexibility :

• Up to 10% international and domestic travel to meet with internal / external partners.
• Travel for internal and external shows for communication of project progress, results, and transfer.
• Regular conference attendance for autonomous driving and especially software technologies.

In Belmont, California, the base salary range for this role is $155400-$20000, depending on education and experience.