Principal Engineer Team Lead, AV Behavior

Motional is a leading autonomous driving company on a mission to make driverless vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. Backed by Hyundai Motor Group, Motional is at the forefront of the physical AI revolution. Motional isn’t just building first-of-its-kind technology; we are transforming transportation to create safer streets and more sustainable mobility options.

Mission Summary:

The Systems Readiness and Performance team is the crucial bridge between software development and real-world deployment. We are responsible for driving system design, for verifying and validating the autonomy stack, and for defining, measuring, and validating system performance targets. We work closely with stakeholders in autonomy, infrastructure, and operations to build the definitive safety case for the commercial launch of our fully driverless IONIQ 5 robotaxis in Las Vegas later this year.

We are looking for a passionate, self starting engineering leader to lead the AV Behavior Understanding and Evaluation team within the SRP organization. This team defines the standards for safe, comfortable, and assertive autonomous driving. We bridge the gap between systems engineering and real-world performance by decomposing the Operational Design Domain (ODD) into actionable competencies. The team owns the behavior definition, actionable driving policies backed by tests, and acceptance criteria derived from standards and human benchmarks. The team works closely with the autonomy teams on both target setting and validation.

We are seeking a hands-on Principal Engineer Team Lead to drive the design, evaluation, and scaling of these systems through data-driven design backed by structured and large scale assessment in simulation and on the road. You will lead a high-performing team to transform complex data into measurable progress toward a safer, smarter transportation future.

What You'll Do:

• Design the System Behavior: Decompose ODD requirements into system and subsystem behaviors and interfaces to ensure vehicle capabilities meet product requirements. Characterize the performance target against parameters used to define AV capabilities to provide nuance in performance evaluation
• Develop actionable policies and measurable targets: Convert legal and industry policy narratives to mathematical and/or specific requirements that the autonomy teams can implement. Leverage human benchmark and industry standards to establish measurable acceptance criteria for system readiness
• Drive Evaluation Strategy: Advance our performance assessment framework by defining key metrics and reward functions. Derive Launch Criteria and Driving policy and strategically plan and execute testing campaigns leveraging advanced structured and large scale simulation, closed-course tracks, and on-road data.
• Lead and Scale: Mentor and grow a high-performing engineering team. Foster a culture of technical excellence, scientific rigor, and data-driven decision-making.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Autonomy, Infrastructure, and the other  Systems teams to drive design improvements. Ensure features generate a net positive effect on system safety, comfort, and assertiveness and meet our launch criteria
• Data exploration: Leverage data science techniques and existing infrastructure to understand the problem space and engage with development teams to drive resolution in close collaboration with System Performance
• Incorporate Bleeding Edge technology: Leverage a combination of learning methods and metrics along with classical metrics to stretch the horizon of performance evaluation

What We're Looking For:

• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of experience in Systems Engineering, Autonomous Systems, or Robotics, with deep expertise in one and working knowledge of the others.
• Or Master’s degree/PhD and 5+ years of experience
• 3+ years of experience leading and scaling data-driven evaluation programs for autonomous driving or safety-critical emerging technologies.
• A hands-on technical leader with a proven track record of growing small, high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated track record in decomposing ODD requirements into vehicle capabilities, driving behavior logic, and defining measurable acceptance criteria.
• Expert at leveraging large-scale simulation, track, and road data to extract actionable technical insights that drive resolution with development teams.
• Proven track record of building consensus and driving alignment across multidisciplinary teams—spanning Autonomy, Infrastructure, and Operations—by leveraging technical influence over organizational authority.
• Strong foundation in statistical methodology, Data Science, and scientific rigor.
• Proficiency in Python, SQL, and data visualization techniques.
• Excellent communication skills; capable of articulating complex concepts to technical peers and executive leadership alike.
• Self-starter with a proactive mindset for driving ambiguous projects to completion.

Ideally, You Also Have:

• Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, Autonomous Systems, or Robotics
• Familiarity with SOTIF, ISO 26262, UL4600, AVSC Behavior competencies and other industry standards
• Experience shaping product roadmaps
• Experience establishing and leveraging industry benchmarks as well as human naturalistic driving behaviors to improve autonomous driving
• Familiarity with Reinforcement Learning (RL) 
• Experience collaborating within agile environments and global, distributed teams.
• Experience with Industry standards and establishing human benchmarks
• Specialized expertise in creating expansive datasets
• Experience collaborating in an agile development environment 

We encourage a hybrid schedule with in-office time at one of our locations in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas to support collaboration, or this role can be fully remote.

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process. 

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range$200,000—$275,000 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.  

Scale up, not starting up.

Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.

Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit  www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.