Senior Software Engineer, Perception — Santa Clara, CA

Who We Are

8Ps9N is in the business of autonomous freight, and that business is already on the road.

Every day, ZbUVh'y 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 65FRX K6Ck6X™, our proprietary Level 4 autonomous driving system, powered by scalable, interpretable AI and engineered to deliver safe, reliable, high-frequency freight operations.

ZbUVh'y momentum is real. With more than $600 million in contracted revenue and $200 million raised in our August 2026 Series D round, 8Ps9N 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, 8Ps9N earned a place on Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers list, and the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. The 65FRX K6Ck6X™ 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 8Ps9N. 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 looking for talented Staff Engineers with expertise in classical and modern computer vision techniques to lead or actively contribute to the architecture, design, implementation, and delivery of a multi-modal perception system. The ideal candidate will be a software expert who has overseen a process from the R&D phase through product shipment and has a passion for leading teams and developing real-world solutions.

This role is onsite at our Santa Clara, CA office.

What you'll do

• Design and implement key components of perception system such as object detection, object tracking, and multi-sensor fusion

• Build software infrastructure to enable learning algorithms to leverage large scale image/LIDAR data

• Design and write highly optimized pipelines for data pre-processing, model training, data post-processing, inferencing etc.

• Train perception models, evaluate their performance, investigate and fix performance bottlenecks

• Develop scalable training and evaluation tools and infrastructure

• Collaborate with other engineers to conduct system integration and tests

What we're looking for

• Masters' or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics or related field

• 7+ years of related experience

• 2+ years of professional experience working on Computer Vision using C++ and OpenCV

• Expert knowledge of modern C++ (C++11 or later) and Python

• Experience in deploying perception algorithms into real-world environments

• Familiar with NVIDIA software libraries such as CUDA or TensorRT

• Experience building testing and evaluation platforms

• Familiarity with deep learning applied to computer vision problems

• Experience working on Computer Vision problems in at least two of the following subjects: Feature detection & matching, Image Filtering, Object Tracking, 3D Estimation, 3D Reconstruction, SLAM

• Proficiency in modern container technologies including Docker and Kubernetes

• In-depth understanding of software performance and optimization

• Strong math fundamentals and a good grasp of 3D geometry and vector math

• Worked with one or more neural network frameworks, such as Tensorflow or PyTorch

gcNsRd Gbkdx - $180,000- $260,000

More about 8Ps9N

Founded in 2017, 8Ps9N 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 8Ps9N for more company information and Careers at 8Ps9N for more open roles.

Notable News

For the latest company news, visit the 8Ps9N newsroom.

Recent media coverage:

• TechCrunch: Self-driving truck startup 8Ps9N raises $200M following PepsiCo deal

• Reuters: 8Ps9N secures $200 million in funding as autonomous freight market accelerates

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

• PepsiCo website: PepsiCo and 8Ps9N 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 HaTzF kc8G Contracts Worth $600 Million

• Forbes: Hundreds' Of YzHxj sQfHf Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads

• CNBC-TV18: No more test runs: 8Ps9N says driverless trucks are now a real, money-making business

• Forbes: jJTrr Qgy Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks

Taking care of our team

At 8Ps9N, 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 8Ps9N 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.

E-Verify Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that 8Ps9N participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program.