Senior/Staff Software Engineer

Who we are

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.

The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.

About the role

Develops modern C++ backend systems for vehicle telemetry, state management, and real-time communication. Designs low-latency, high-reliability protocols and safety-critical workflows. Collaborates across autonomy and platform teams, interfaces with vendors, and conducts on-vehicle testing to optimize performance and reliability.

This role will be onsite at our Santa Clara, CA office.

What you'll do

• Design and implement back-end software in modern C++ to support vehicle telemetry, communications, and system state management.
• Architect low-latency, high-reliability communication protocols for real-time data exchange across distributed systems.
• Develop intuitive and safety-critical user workflows to ensure clear and reliable vehicle state transitions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with teams in behavior planning, platform engineering, integration, safety, and operations to align technical solutions with stakeholder needs.
• Perform metric analysis and performance optimization in a dynamic, highly concurrent software stack.
• Interface with global vendors, ensuring alignment of technical goals, deliverables, and integration timelines.
• Participate in on-vehicle testing, conducting functional analysis of new features and collecting data on latency, throughput, and stream quality.

What we're looking for

• Master's degree in robotics, computer engineering, or a related field with 5+ years of experience, or Bachelor's degree with 7+ years in autonomous systems or embedded software.
• Strong proficiency in modern C++, with deep expertise in high-concurrency systems for real-time or safety-critical applications.
• Solid understanding of communication protocols, including TCP/IP, UDP, and custom transport layers.
• Strong grasp of operating system fundamentals, including process priority, scheduling, inter-process communication (IPC), and performance optimization on distributed platforms.
• Experience with robotics middleware, particularly ROS 2.
• Exceptional analytical and debugging skills, with a proven ability to work across disciplines and communicate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Bonus: Experience with cellular networks, modem optimization, and telecom system