Autonomy Manager - 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

May Mobility is entering an exciting phase of growth as we expand our first-of-its-kind autonomous shuttle and mobility services across the nation. We are looking for an Autonomous Behavior Lead Engineer / Manager to provide technical, organizational and administrative leadership in core aspects of the Autonomy Engineering team. The ideal candidate will demonstrate passion and ownership of autonomy executing on real vehicles and delighting customers.  

This role will report to the Director of Autonomous Behavior and will be responsible for contributing, leading and managing efforts to maintain and improve the capabilities and performance of behavior planning. As part of this role, the Autonomous Behavior Lead Engineer / Manager will assist in cross-functional efforts to triage issues from the field, lead small teams in solving issues and developing long term improvements, as well as balancing resources between shorter and longer term issues.

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 engineering leaders
• Lead a team of Autonomous Behavior engineers, providing mentorship, regular feedback, and promoting professional growth opportunities; Responsible for performance tracking and team hiring and retention goals
• Lead one or more cross-functional problem solving teams to understand and solve issues in the field.
• Communicate clear and concise issues, analysis results, solutions, and timelines to other managers to enable rapid and effective responses to ongoing field issues.
• Responsible for operational and technical team successes and outcomes, including - meeting benchmarks, prioritizing effective time and resource allocation across all team functions, and engaging in regular status and metrics reporting; Collaborate closely with project managers, people managers, and executives to achieve company goals 
• Plan, lead and oversee implementation of solutions for known autonomy software stack challenges
• Support testing and validation of software deployed to both existing and new operation sites.
• Support ride-feel tuning for new site deployments
• Track and approve hotfixes for deployed autonomy software
• Provide input into release planning, including feature recommendations and risk assessments based on prior field experiences
• Provide high-level analysis of autonomy performance to feed long-term development strategy
• Escalate critical issues and opportunities within the autonomy team to engineering leadership, making clear recommendations to maximize the effectiveness of the team with respect to company priorities

Skills and Abilities

Success in this role typically requires the following competencies:

• Experience in one or more of the following: behavior planning, decision making under uncertainty, path planning, probabilistic reasoning, prediction, machine learning, trajectory generation, controls or localization
• Identifies complex problems and devises optimal and innovative solutions that often cross organizational boundaries. 
• Removes organizational barriers. Ability to make optimal trade-offs in own goals and resources (staff and budget) to help the team achieve its goals. 
• Proactive and anticipates challenges. 
• Ability to mentor staff of various skills and personalities, including both technical staff and other managers.
• Maintains customer orientation in all engineering decision making.
• Develops alternative approaches in collaboration with other managers to increase business results.

Qualifications and Experience

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

Required

• BS in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related engineering discipline
• 5 years experience developing and/or managing technical development within the self-driving vehicle technology field including perception, behavior, planning, and controls or equivalent technical field
• 10+ years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated success in leading teams and delegating responsibilities
• Experience with software development in a Linux environment
• Familiarity with standard development tools such as git, valgrind, and gdb
• Deep familiarity with the state of the autonomous vehicle industry
• High degree of comfort in balancing multiple priorities
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Collaborative leadership approach
• Organization skills including project management
• Willingness and ability to travel approximately 20% of the time

Desirable

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related engineering discipline
• Previous hands-on system architecture experience building or leading the development for multiple tech stacks
• Demonstrated successful people management experience, including mentoring and promoting professional growth of direct reports
• Previous experience growing a team, crafting hiring plans, designing and conducting interviews, reviewing candidates, and making hiring decisions
• Previous startup experience

Physical Requirements

• Standard office working conditions which includes but is not limited to:
• Prolonged sitting
• Prolonged standing
• Prolonged computer use
• Travel required? -  Moderate: 11%-25%

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 with immediate eligibility as well as a phased return to work. 
• Flexible vacation policy in addition to 18 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.