Senior Staff Hardware Engineer, AV Systems - AV Labs

About the Role

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.

We are seeking a Sr. Staff Hardware Engineer to serve as the overarching architect for our entire sensing and compute platform. In this role, you will look across the entire vehicle platform definition & topology, balancing the trade-offs between sensor fidelity, compute throughput, thermal constraints, and power delivery.

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, LiDRA, 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 comp. 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 [](;br>
Uber's mission is to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Here, bold ideas create real-world impact, challenges drive growth, and speed fuels progress. What moves us, moves the world - let's move it forward, together.

Uber is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing [this form](;br>
Offices continue to be central to collaboration and Uber's cultural identity. Unless formally approved to work fully remotely, Uber expects employees to spend at least half of their work time in their assigned office. For certain roles, such as those based at green-light hubs, employees are expected to be in-office for 100% of their time. Please speak with your recruiter to better understand in-office expectations for this role.