Director, Autonomy Behavior

May Mobility is transforming cities through autonomous technology to create a safer, greener, more accessible world. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, May develops and deploys autonomous vehicles (AVs) powered by our innovative Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology that literally reimagines the way AVs think. 

Our vehicles do more than just drive themselves - they provide value to communities, bridge public transit gaps and move people where they need to go safely, easily and with a lot more fun. We’re building the world’s best autonomy system to reimagine transit by minimizing congestion, expanding access and encouraging better land use in order to foster more green, vibrant and livable spaces. Since our founding in 2017, we’ve given more than 300,000 autonomy-enabled rides to real people around the globe. And we’re just getting started. We’re hiring people who share our passion for building the future, today, solving real-world problems and seeing the impact of their work. Join us.

Job Summary

The Director of Autonomy will be responsible for leading the vision, strategy, and technical roadmap of the Autonomy Behavior team at May Mobility.  The Director of Autonomy plays a key role in advancing May’s unique, innovative Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology. MPDM enables May to build and scale its autonomy capabilities much more efficiently than any of its competitors.

This is a unique opportunity to sit at the crossroads of cutting-edge autonomous driving technology, transformative mobility, and the products that enable change in the transportation landscape of cities today.

This position reports to the Vice President of Autonomy and is responsible for providing world class leadership to our autonomy engineering managers and engineers, in order to propel their professional success as they develop industry-leading technology advancements.

Essential Responsibilities

• Be a technical thought leader to champion May Mobility’s mission, vision, values and company priorities to develop and execute autonomy strategy with fellow executives and engineering leaders.
• Work cross-functionally with Vehicle Engineering; Software, Data and Infrastructure; and Operations leaders to solve and deploy solutions to autonomy challenges.
• Deliver innovative and robust advances to May’s MPDM technology including faster execution, more accurate MPDM simulations, effective reward functions, improved and expressive policies, compatible and stable control algorithms and any other technological aspect required to advance MPDM, May’s core technology.   
• Guide the development and advances of advanced data-first and ML/AI approaches to maximize the capabilities of the MPDM stack.
• Ensure May’s core MPDM technologies operate efficiently and effectively in commercial deployments, including supporting effective triage and resolution of issues related to this technology.
• Maintain an understanding of related research fields including planning, automated decision making, and various machine learning techniques such as reinforcement learning.
• Develop and maintain key performance indicators (KPIs) to track autonomy performance
• Identify key gaps and challenges in May’s autonomy technology including MPDM and control algorithms. 
• Construct and execute a roadmap to solve key challenges and work with other autonomy leaders to synchronize this roadmap with the roadmaps of other functions.
• Identify monthly, quarterly and yearly milestones to iteratively improve performance in both the short and long term.
• Take responsibility for the overall planning, execution, and success of complex technical projects and provide the team with technical leadership.
• Help set perception team hiring targets. Interview, hire, and manage a diverse team of talented perception engineers and scientists.
• Oversee the escalation of critical issues and opportunities within the autonomy team’s leadership, driving clear recommendations to maximize the effectiveness of the team with respect to company priorities and strategy.

Skills and Abilities

Success in this role typically requires the following competencies:

• Deep technical knowledge and demonstrated success in delivering innovative solutions in one or more of the fields of planning, autonomous decision making, reinforcement learning, and computational prediction.
• Proven success in applying and adapting ML/AI processes in complex decision making frameworks (preferably autonomous vehicles).
• A demonstrated strong attention to detail with the ability to understand, track, and efficiently mitigate technical, integration, and personnel risks.
• Demonstrated success in working in uncertain work environments with an ability to turn concepts and problems that are uncertain into effective, executable plans to resolve these issues.
• A proven ability to get the best out of others, set goals and expectations for others, communicate clearly and honestly, and discuss difficult topics.
• An ability to clearly and concisely communicate technical concepts including root cause analysis, technical challenges and their solutions, and results backed by data.
• Proven ability to work with other peers in related technical areas to jointly solve larger system issues.
• Proven ability to deliver under tight schedules.

Qualifications and Experience

Candidates most successful in this role typically hold the following qualifications or comparable knowledge or experience:

Required

• PhD or masters degree in a relevant, highly technical field (e.g. robotics, computer science, computer engineering, aerospace engineering, physics)
• A demonstrated ability to solve complex autonomy problems as a principal investigator, staff or principal engineer, or director (or equivalent role)
• 7+ years of software-focused engineering experience solving challenging robotics problems in mission critical software and/or robotic systems. 
• Experience leading a team of 10+ engineers - setting goals, leading by example, handling challenging situations and failures
• Previous experience as individual contributor successfully developing and deploying innovative solutions in the autonomous vehicle or related space

Desirable

• 5+ years of management experience
• Experience developing and/or using MPDM
• Deep understanding of the challenges facing autonomous vehicles as well as the state of the art in autonomy.
  
  

Physical Requirements

• Standard office working conditions which includes but is not limited to:
• Prolonged sitting
• Prolonged standing
• Prolonged computer use

Travel required? -  In AA: Moderate: 1%-10% If remote: Moderate: 10-20%

Salary Range$220,000—$255,000 USD

Benefits and Perks

• Comprehensive healthcare suite including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability plans. Domestic partners who have been residing together at least one year are also eligible to participate. 
• Health Savings and Flexible Spending Healthcare and Dependent Care Accounts available.
• Rich retirement benefits, including an immediately vested employer safe harbor match.
• Generous paid parental leave as well as a phased return to work. 
• Flexible vacation policy in addition to paid company holidays.
• Total Wellness Program providing numerous resources for overall wellbeing   

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and/or people of color are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every qualification. At May Mobility, we’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workforce, so if you’re excited about this role but your previous experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway! You may be the perfect candidate for this or another role at May.

Want to learn more about our culture & benefits? Check out our website!

May Mobility is an equal opportunity employer.  All applicants for employment will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, genetics or any other legally protected basis.   Below, you have the opportunity to share your preferred gender pronouns, gender, ethnicity, and veteran status with May Mobility to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring and recruitment processes. Completion of these questions is entirely voluntary.  Any information you choose to provide will be kept confidential, and will not impact the hiring decision in any way. If you believe that you will need any type of accommodation, please let us know.

Note to Recruitment Agencies: May Mobility does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Furthermore, May Mobility does not pay placement fees for candidates submitted by any agency other than its approved partners.