Staff/Sr. Staff Software Engineer – Planning/Path Reasoning

About the Company

DiDi's autonomous driving unit was established in 2016 with the mission of developing Level 4 autonomous driving (AD) technology to make transportation safer and more efficient. In August 2019, the unit became an independent company, DiDi Autonomous Driving, dedicated to advanced AD R&D, product application, and business expansion. We believe integrating AD technology into a shared-mobility fleet will generate immense social value. By leveraging DiDi's specialized technology, operational expertise, and integrated ecosystem, we are positioned to build and operate a highly efficient, user-oriented autonomous fleet.

About the Role

We are seeking a Staff or Senior Staff Software Engineer to lead the development of the strategic intelligence for our autonomous vehicles. You will define the algorithms for high-level reasoning, decision-making, and interaction-aware planning in complex environments.

Responsibilities

• Architect the geometric reasoning system for long-horizon planning and multi-agent interactions, resolving dense urban stuck situation and make vehicle drive with both efficiency and safety.
• Lead development of decision-making algorithms for ambiguous scenarios.
• Drive the integration of prediction and planning to enable proactive behaviors.
• Establish metrics and validation frameworks for decision quality and safety.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor junior & senior engineers within the team.

Qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. in CS, Robotics, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in autonomous systems, focusing on decision-making, agent & world modeling and planning.
• Expert proficiency in C++/Python and experience as a technical lead.
• Deep expertise in motion planning decision-making (behavior planning, world modeling, agent reaction & reasoning under uncertainty).
• Background in POMDPs, reinforcement learning, or game theory is a bonus.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in leading a decision-making team in a commercial AV program.
• Publications in robotics/AI conferences on decision-making or planning.
• Experience with simulation frameworks for policy and behavior validation.

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