Senior Software Engineer, Localization

Who We Are

Gatik is in the business of autonomous freight, and that business is already on the road.

Every day, Gatik’s autonomous trucks move freight for Fortune 50 retailers, grocers and consumer brands across Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and Canada, connecting distribution centers and stores and keeping goods moving. At the heart of it all is the Gatik Driver™, our proprietary Level 4 autonomous driving system, powered by scalable, interpretable AI and engineered to deliver safe, reliable, high-frequency freight operations.

Gatik’s momentum is real. With more than $600 million in contracted revenue and $200 million raised in our August 2026 Series D round, Gatik has taken one of the toughest challenges in autonomous technology and turned it into a proven commercial business.

And the market is paying attention. In 2026, Gatik earned a place on Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers list, and the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. The Gatik Driver™ won an Edison Award for Advancements in Autonomous Driving, and Inc. named our Co-founder and Chief Engineer, Apeksha Kumavat, to its Female Founders 500 list.

There's a lot more road ahead, and some of the brightest, most driven minds in autonomous technology are building the next chapter at Gatik. We're taking on hard engineering problems, pushing the limits of what's possible and building on a commercial foundation that's already proven itself in the real world with some of the biggest companies in the world, like PepsiCo and Loblaw. If you're ambitious, love solving problems that matter and want to see your work make a real difference, you'll find plenty to get excited about here.

About the role

We are seeking a Senior/Staff Software Engineer to join our Localization team to build state-of-the-art sensor fusion solutions that combine data from a wide variety of sensors, as well as localization algorithms that integrate with maps in real time. We are looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team. You will play a critical part in building robust, real-time localization solutions, leveraging real-time sensor measurements to achieve high accuracy in diverse and challenging environments.

This role is onsite 5 days at our Santa Clara, CA office!

What you'll do

• Design, develop, and optimize sensor-based localization and odometry algorithms to improve the positioning accuracy of autonomous vehicles.

• Implement algorithms for sensor fusion, utilizing data from IMU, GPS, Lidar, and other sensors to create a robust, reliable localization pipeline.

• Develop and integrate real-time SLAM techniques for both structured and unstructured environments.

• Collaborate closely with perception, mapping, and control teams to ensure the seamless integration of localization outputs within the autonomous driving stack.

• Conduct rigorous testing and validation in both simulation environments and real-world scenarios, focusing on challenging conditions like urban and unstructured environments.

• Analyze and debug complex issues in localization, implementing improvements based on both field test data and user feedback.

• Research state-of-the-art techniques in lidar and camera-based localization, keeping the localization stack up-to-date with advancements in sensor processing and computational efficiency.

• Contribute to performance benchmarking, tuning, and continuous improvement efforts to meet real-time constraints and increase system robustness.

What we're looking for

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

• 6+ years industry experience writing C++ software in a production environment - architecture design, unit testing, code review, algorithm performance trade-offs, etc.

• 2+ years of experience in the AV/ADAS industries.

• Experience in developing localization algorithms for autonomous vehicles or robotic systems, with a strong focus on GPS-IMU sensor fusion and SLAM.

• Proficiency in C++ and Python, with hands-on experience in ROS/ROS2.

• Experience with pose estimation, SLAM, probabilistic filtering, Kalman filtering, and non-linear optimization.

• Practical experience in processing large-scale and real-world data sets.

• Experience implementing mathematical principles effectively in software

• Expert-level knowledge of SLAM, GNSS/INS.

• Experience with sensor fusion and sensor calibration techniques, particularly integrating IMU, GPS, and Lidar data for enhanced localization accuracy.

• Experience with performance optimization and real-time system requirements

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with MATLAB / Simulink.

• Proficiency in linear algebra, probability, and optimization techniques.

• Proven ability to optimize and deploy real-time control systems in fast-paced environments.

Salary Range- $180,000- $250,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017, Gatik has grown into a commercial force in autonomous freight, operating trucks daily in live customer networks across the United States and Canada. We're headquartered in Santa Clara, California, but our impact is felt on the roads and in the supply chains that keep essential goods moving for some of the biggest companies in North America.

Our trucks do some of the most demanding work in freight, running high-frequency, time-sensitive routes between distribution centers and stores, where reliability matters every single day. For our customers, that means more capacity, better service and products arriving where they need to be, when they need to be there.

Behind it all is AI-first technology built from the ground up for autonomous trucking, capable of navigating highways and surface streets and tackling the complexity of real-world logistics at scale.

Visit Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

For the latest company news, visit the Gatik newsroom.

Recent media coverage:

• TechCrunch: Self-driving truck startup Gatik raises $200M following PepsiCo deal

• Reuters: Gatik secures $200 million in funding as autonomous freight market accelerates

• Bloomberg: Driverless Trucks Can Save Lives on America's Roads

• PepsiCo website: PepsiCo and Gatik announce multi-year agreement to deploy autonomous freight in North America

• Wall Street Journal: Driverless Trucks Are Here - and They’re Delivering Bags of Doritos

• CBS News: Pepsi deploys self-driving delivery trucks

• Bloomberg: Autonomous Trucking Firm Gatik Inks Contracts Worth $600 Million

• Forbes: Hundreds’ Of Gatik Robot Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads

• CNBC-TV18: No more test runs: Gatik says driverless trucks are now a real, money-making business

• Forbes: Gatik And Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

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