Up to 15% travel required
About Greenlight RoboticsGreenlight Robotics is building public transit technology that makes communities more efficient, accessible, and vibrant, and we’re building a team of people who care deeply about how cities are run.
We’re hiring our first core team of engineers to deliver the initial production version of our system to early transit customers. You will be hands-on building cutting-edge technology that will strengthen the public systems moving billions of people every day.
About The RoleWe are looking for a Lead Robotics Software Engineer to step into a hybrid individual contributor and engineering manager role. Reporting directly to our Co-founder & CTO, you will write, review, and ship code while building out the software architecture and engineering team required to scale.
This role offers broad, end-to-end ownership over a complex, field-deployed product. Rather than owning a small sub-system at a massive company, you will work directly with the founders to shape our core product and engineering roadmap.
What You Will DoTrain & Deploy AI Models: Design, build, and continuously improve the underlying AI models that power our core perception and prediction capabilities.
Architect the Core Software Stack: Build, maintain, and iterate a clean, scalable software architecture that enables perception, prediction, tracking, and localization for our first customer fleets.
Ship Production Iterations: Establish data collection pipelines and AI validation methodologies to push quick, reliable software updates live into the field.
Build & Lead the Engineering Team: Mentor software engineers, interns, and contractors while playing a key role in recruiting and onboarding our next software hires.
Vehicle AI & Perception: 6+ years of demonstrated ability training robotics AI models and policies for vehicle-related tasks using multi-modal sensor data.
Complex Architecture Design: Ability to create, maintain, and scale complex robotic software architectures built for high maintainability and rapid iteration.
AI-Accelerated Coder: Ability to write and evaluate high-quality code using LLMs as an accelerating tool to increase output without building up technical debt.
PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, or equivalent focus.
8+ years of previous experience developing AI/ML/RL software for semi-automated or automated vehicle platforms.
Hands-on experience working directly on the hardware side of a complex robotics implementation.
Previous experience as a founder or founding engineer.
Competitive salary and ground-floor equity package.
Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, and commuter.
Generous "flex days" for working from home alongside unlimited PTO.
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

