Senior/Staff Behavior Planning Engineer at Gatik AI

Mountain View, California, United States -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

07 Jun, 26

Salary

260000.0

Posted On

09 Mar, 26

Experience

5 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Behavior Tree Architectures, C++, Motion Planning, Prediction, Control, Simulation, Debugging, Visualization, Closed-loop Testing, System Integration, Technical Leadership, Mentorship, Finite State Machines, Rule-Based Planners, Real-time Systems, Safety-Critical Systems

Industry

Software Development

Description

Who we are Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation. The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations. About the role We’re seeking Senior or Staff Engineers to help build the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles, enabling safe and intelligent decision-making. The role involves designing behavior tree architectures, developing robust C++ infrastructure, collaborating across autonomy teams, evaluating planner performance, and providing technical leadership within the team. This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Mountain View, CA office! What you'll do Design, implement, and maintain the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles, enabling intelligent, interpretable, and safe decision-making in complex real-world scenarios. Develop and extend behavior tree architectures for hierarchical decision logic, including support for mission planning, tactical maneuvers, and contingency handling. Collaborate closely with the motion planning, prediction, and control teams to ensure seamless transitions from high-level decisions to executable trajectories. Build and optimize C++-based software infrastructure for behavior planning, including tools for simulation, debugging, visualization, and closed-loop testing. Evaluate planner performance in diverse real-world and simulated environments; identify failure modes and develop strategies to improve robustness and generalization. Participate in design reviews and system integration across the full autonomy stack. Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance for junior team members. What we're looking for Ph.D. with 3+ years or Master’s with 5+ years of industry experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or behavior planning. Proven experience in behavior planning, including use of behavior trees, finite state machines, or rule-based planners in autonomous driving or robotics applications. Strong proficiency in C++ with a deep understanding of performance, memory management, and software architecture in production systems. Solid understanding of motion planning and prediction interfaces, with experience building real-time, safety-critical systems. Knowledge of diffusion models and/or Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models is a strong plus. Strong debugging, system thinking, and collaborative communication skills. Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000 More about Gatik Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability. We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy. By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations. Visit us at Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles. Notable News Bloomberg: Autonomous Trucking Firm Gatik Inks Contracts Worth $600 Million Forbes: Hundreds’ Of Gatik Robot Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads Forbes:Gatik And Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks Forbes: Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs Tech Brew: Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry Business Wire: Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework Auto Futures: Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS Automotive News: Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning Forbes: Isuzu And Gatik Go All In To Scale Up Driverless Freight Services Bloomberg: Autonomous Vehicle Startup Takes Off by Picking Off Easier Routes Reuters: Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny Taking care of our team At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility. We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

Responsibilities

The role involves designing, implementing, and maintaining the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles to enable intelligent, interpretable, and safe decision-making in complex scenarios. Responsibilities include developing behavior tree architectures, building C++ infrastructure, and collaborating across autonomy teams to ensure seamless trajectory execution.