Principal Application Software Engineer

Role details

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve. We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that. Here’s what this particular role covers. 🛠️ About our Engineering Teams The Application SW team sits within Application Engineering in Product & Delivery. We bridge AI innovation and production vehicles, defining and executing the strategy for integrating Wayve’s autonomy stack into multiple OEM platforms, and working directly with automotive customers, including major Japanese OEMs. 🧠 Your day-to-day As an Application SW Engineer, you’ll be responsible for the bring-up and early validation of our AI software stack on customer hardware platforms, ensuring it performs reliably across diverse SoCs and operating systems. You’ll work closely with Verification, Release and OEM partner teams to make integration smooth and delivery dependable. Your time will be split across platform bring-up and integration, customer and partner engagement, and technical leadership, including helping to build the team. 🧩 What you’ll be working on: - Executing software bring-up on customer hardware platforms (e.g. NVIDIA Drive, Qualcomm Ride). - Porting and configuring Linux-based systems, QNX and Adaptive AUTOSAR environments. - Integrating and validating drivers, middleware and boot-time configurations. - Working with Verification and Release teams to integrate hardware into CI/CD, HIL and test infrastructure. - Working with OEM and Tier 1 teams to resolve hardware-specific integration issues. - Implementing system-level diagnostics, logging and secure boot configuration. - Developing automation for setup, flashing, health checks and test execution on target hardware. - Defining and executing the strategy for integrating our autonomy stack into multiple OEM platforms. - Building the team and providing technical leadership across integration work. 🙌 You should apply if: Essential - 8+ years of experience in embedded or automotive software development, ideally with hands-on platform bring-up experience. - Strong proficiency in C/C++, Bash, and Python. Deep understanding of Linux-based embedded systems (Yocto, systemd, bootloaders, device trees). - Familiarity with QNX and Adaptive AUTOSAR environments and the ability to configure and debug them on target hardware. Experience with bring-up on automotive-grade SoCs (e.g., NVIDIA Orin, Qualcomm SA8295/SA8650, Renesas, TI). - Comfortable working with hardware debuggers, flashing tools, serial consoles, and board support packages (BSPs). - Familiarity with communication protocols like CAN, Ethernet, PCIe, SPI, I2C. - Hands-on experience integrating embedded platforms into CI/CD pipelines and test automation frameworks. Desirable - Exposure to automotive verification environments (e.g., HIL systems, Vector toolchains, custom CI rigs). - Experience working in a safety-critical domain with an understanding of ISO 26262, boot-time determinism, and watchdogs. - Understanding of secure boot, OTA updates, and system-level cybersecurity topics. - Familiarity with Docker, Jenkins, Git, and artifact management tools like JFrog Artifactory. 🌱 Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement. More about Wayve: 🚀 Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines. Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility. How we work 💻- Locations & Flexible Working: Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives. 🔍 The Interview Process: Our process is clear and respectful of your time: - Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins) - Competency Interviews (Programming ; 1 hours total) - Deep-dive technical interviews ( Performance System/low-level Linux, system design and technical leadership, depending on level; 3 hours total) - Final interview: mission & values alignment (1 hour). We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability. What’s in it for you (Location dependant): 💰 Salaries benchmarked against the market annually 📈 Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve ✈️ Relocation support and visa sponsorship where appl