Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer

Foster City, CASoftware – Rider, Vehicle, and Fleet Operations Software /Full-time /HybridMaestro is the core system responsible for efficiently managing Zoox's automated fleet operations. It assigns various jobs to autonomous vehicles, including rideshare trips, charging, cleaning, and other fleet management activities. It serves as the central intelligence that connects riders to robots and manages the overall fleet operations.We are seeking an engineer to act as technical lead for Maestro. This person will shape the technical direction and development of Maestro, including ride assignments, charging coordination, and fleet optimization. They will be both a hands-on engineer writing and troubleshooting code, and a designer and reviewer of the team’s work.In this role, you will:Architect and evolve Maestro's distributed systems to support scaling autonomous fleet operationsDrive technical strategy and make key architectural decisions for the fleet management platformLead design and implementation of high-availability, real-time scheduling and dispatch systemsPartner with product, operations, and other engineering teams to define technical roadmapMentor and provide technical leadership to a team of senior engineersEstablish best practices for system reliability, performance, and operational excellenceDrive cross-team initiatives to integrate Maestro with vehicle systems, customer apps, and operations toolsRequired Skills & Experience:BS/MS in Computer Science or a related field15+ years of software engineering experience, with 7+ years building large-scale distributed systemsDeep expertise in distributed systems design, soft real-time processing, and scalable architecturesProficiency in Kotlin, Go, Java, or similar languages for backend developmentExperience with event-driven architectures and message queuing systemsTrack record of leading complex technical initiatives across multiple teamsExperience with cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred) and microservices architectureStrong understanding of system reliability, monitoring, and operational concernsExcellent communication skills and ability to influence technical directionPreferred Qualifications:Experience with fleet management, logistics, or routing systemsBackground in optimization algorithms, scheduling, or constraint satisfaction problemsKnowledge of autonomous vehicle systems and their operational requirementsExperience with soft real-time scheduling and dispatch systemsTrack record of mentoring senior engineers and growing technical teamsCompensationThere are three major components to compensation for this position: salary, Amazon Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights. The salary will range from $280,000 to $400,000. A sign-on bonus may be part of a compensation package. Compensation will vary based on geographic location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  Zoox also offers a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (e.g. sick leave, vacation, bereavement), unpaid time off, Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights, Amazon RSUs, health insurance, long-term care insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance, and life insurance.