Senior Staff Hardware Engineer, Av Systems Av Labs

Uber is launching Av Labs to accelerate the autonomous technology ecosystem. We're building out a high-velocity team of multi-disciplinary experts to turn real-world operations into high-quality data for our autonomous partners. This team will be focused on the hardest problem in AV today: unlocking real-world, long-tail driving data.

Autonomy is now a data race and Uber has an edge: we collect rare, real-world driving data at a scale and capital efficiency no one else can match (millions of Uber trips every hour across cities, conditions, and edge cases create the data autonomy has been missing). We will build platforms that harness scale and real-world complexity to reimagine how the world moves.

What you will do:

• System architecture & topology: define the overarching L4 hardware architecture, determining the optimal sensor placement (FOV coverage vs. vehicle aerodynamics), sensor mix (redundancy vs. cost), and compute topology (centralized vs. zonal) to meet safety and data collection goals.
• Strategic supplier engagement: own the technical roadmap relationships with key industry partners, influencing their future product definitions.
• Multi-modal integration: solve complex system-level challenges such as multi-sensor time synchronization, electromagnetic interference mitigation between high-power compute and sensitive RF sensors, and centralized thermal management strategies.
• Vehicle platform integration: lead the technical interface with OEM partners to define the mechanical, electrical, and logical touchpoints between sensing & compute suite and the base vehicle platform.
• Technical leadership: serve as a mentor and technical arbiter across camera, radar, LiDAR, and compute domains, resolving conflicting requirements to ensure system-level optimization.

Basic qualifications:

• MS/PhD in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or related field.
• Strong background in complex hardware system architecture, with 8+ years of experience building autonomous vehicles, robotics, or aerospace products.
• Deep understanding of major AV sensing modalities and their underlying physics, data structures, and failure modes.
• Demonstrated experience architecting high-performance compute systems and high-speed data interconnects in constrained environments.
• Proven ability to lead build vs. buy decisions and manage complex trade-offs between performance, power, weight, and cost.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience shipping an L4 autonomous vehicle platform or a complex ADAS system to mass production.
• Deep knowledge of functional safety and how hardware architecture supports system-level safety goals.
• Familiarity with NVIDIA Drive platforms (Orin/Thor) and their hardware integration guidelines.
• Experience with vehicle homologation requirements and environmental qualification standards.

For Sunnyvale, CA-based roles: the base salary range for this role is USD$241,000 per year - USD$268,000 per year.

You will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of compensation. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits. More details can be found at the following link.