Senior Software Engineer, Localization
Kodiak · Mountain View, CA
$180,000–$230,000
Jul 20, 2026
Mountain View, CA
Jul 22, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role focuses on building and refining the navigation and pose estimation systems that allow autonomous semi-trucks to know where they are and how they're moving. Day-to-day work involves developing sensor fusion algorithms drawing on IMU, camera, lidar, and GNSS data, creating visual and lidar odometry pipelines, and establishing metrics to evaluate algorithm performance. It suits engineers with a strong foundation in state estimation, inertial navigation, and C++.
Senior level · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Pay in the description: $180,000–$230,000
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 690 people in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 140–1,050
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $217,796 (middle half $177,469–$231,052). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The job title 'Localization Engineer' carries no explicit seniority level, so advertised seniority is Unspecified; however, the scope (building high-reliability deployed navigation systems, defining infrastructure from scratch, cross-discipline ownership) and the compensation range ($180K–$230K) are consistent with a Senior-level role.
The pay range is stated as a base salary range for the SF/Silicon Valley location and spans 'several internal levels' — the actual level placed within this band will depend on experience and interview performance.
Degree requirement: the JD lists 'BS, MS or PhD' as a hard gate under 'What you'll bring', so Bachelors is the minimum. Equivalent experience is not offered as a substitute.
Kalman Filter and factor graphs are listed as interchangeable approaches for 6-DOF pose estimation from raw sensor data; they are captured as a single skill with alternatives.
Visual odometry and lidar odometry (odometry from point clouds) are listed as interchangeable/complementary options in the same requirement; captured as one skill with alternatives.
Sensor fusion appears in the responsibilities section ('Optimize sensor fusion and pose estimation') rather than in the 'What you'll bring' requirements block, so it is marked preferred.
The posting notes that some roles may require export-license review or U.S. person/citizenship verification due to DoD work, but no formal security clearance is explicitly required.
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.