Staff, Software Engineer - Motion Planning
Torc Robotics · Blacksburg
$186,200–$223,400
Jul 15, 2026
Blacksburg
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A staff-level engineering role focused on motion planning and trajectory systems for autonomous trucks, spanning algorithm design, architectural leadership, and production software development in C++. The position involves guiding planning, prediction, and decision-making capabilities across multiple teams while collaborating with controls, perception, safety, and simulation groups. It suits a seasoned autonomy or robotics engineer with deep experience in trajectory optimization and cross-functional technical leadership.
Staff level · 10+ years · Remote · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Pay in the description: $186,200–$223,400
“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 7,100 people nationally plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 4,250–10,700
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). 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 (8)
The JD states 10+ years with a Bachelor's, 7+ with a Master's, or 5+ with a PhD. The 10-year figure is used for the overall years minimum as the baseline; the degree requirement reflects the Bachelor's path (the minimum formal degree that unlocks the role — equivalent experience is not offered as a substitute).
The role is explicitly titled and scoped as Staff: multi-team technical leadership, architectural vision across teams, and mentoring of Senior and Principal engineers — genuine Staff-level scope, not merely a long-tenured Senior.
The posting is open to US and Canada remote candidates. The caller has declared this fully remote with a national US pool; the Canadian option is noted here but the pool is sized on US geography.
A US citizenship requirement is stated (access to restricted information/systems), but no formal security clearance is gated — clearance is set to None.
Testing frameworks (pytest, Robot Framework, gtest) appear in the required qualifications section but are introduced with 'proficiency with unit testing and test automation frameworks (pytest, Robot Framework, gtest, etc.)' — the hard gate is on the capability (unit testing / test automation); the specific tools are listed as examples and are captured as preferred alternatives.
Bonus Points items (MPPI/MPC, ML techniques, ROS/ROS2, CUDA/TensorRT, simulation platforms) are explicitly under a secondary 'Bonus Points!' heading and are marked preferred.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): motion planning.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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