Staff Engineer, Autonomous Driving Data Platform & Curation

The posting, as CARIAD, Inc. wrote it

We are CARIAD , an automotive software development team with the Volkswagen Group. Our mission is to make the automotive experience safer, more sustainable, more comfortable, more digital, and more fun. To achieve that we are building the leading tech stack for the automotive industry and creating a unified software platform for over 10 million new vehicles per year. We ’ re looking for talented, digital minds like you to help us create code that moves the world. Together with you, we ’ ll build outstanding digital experiences and products for all Volkswagen Group brands that will transform mobility. Join us as we shape the future of the car and everyone around it.

Role Summary

The Staff Engineer, Autonomous Driving Data Platform & Curation is a hands-on staff-level individual contributor who owns the path from raw multimodal vehicle data to reliable, versioned, and model-ready datasets. The ideal candidate combines production data or ML systems experience with practical knowledge of autonomous-driving data and can lead ingestion, schema, storage, query, curation, quality, and delivery. This engineer designs and operates datasets containing more than 10 million records or samples, evaluates formats such as Parquet and Lance, and enables efficient filtering, slicing, random access, and sequential retrieval. The role also advances data-quality monitoring, statistical and out-of-distribution detection, rule-based and model-based tagging, model-in-the-loop and human-in-the-loop labeling, and future data preparation for imitation learning and reinforcement learning.

Role Responsibilities

Autonomous Data Architecture, Storage & Query

• Design canonical representations for drives, scenarios, clips, frames, trajectories, sensor references, vehicle state, map context, labels, predictions, and dataset manifests.
• Build and maintain validated, versioned datasets containing more than 10 million records or samples on local or cloud object storage.
• Evaluate Parquet, Apache Arrow, Lance, and related technologies; own partitioning, indexing, file sizing, compaction, schema evolution, lineage, and reproducibility.
• Optimize filtering, projection, joins, scenario slicing, random sampling, shuffling, sequential retrieval, and model data-loading performance.
• Measure and improve ingestion throughput, query latency, training throughput, storage utilization, reliability, and cost per usable sample.

Autonomous Dataset Lifecycle, Curation & Training Readiness

• Work effectively with synchronized camera and other sensor data, ego state, localization, calibration, coordinate frames, map context, control actions, clips, and trajectories.
• Translate perception, planning, VLA, and evaluation needs into schemas, searchable attributes, scenario definitions, sampling strategies, and reproducible dataset splits.
• Build reliable batch or distributed pipelines for ingestion, transformation, enrichment, validation, cataloging, and publication, including r

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he salary range for this position is $196,267 - $269,203.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge and agree to participate in the export control and sanctions compliance screening process. Your cooperation in this matter is essential to our shared success and the integrity of our operations. Thank you for your understanding and commitment to upholding these important standards.

CARIAD, Inc. provides performance-based merits and annual bonus along with a competitive benefits package. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, 401k with employer match and defined contribution plan, short- and long-term disability, basic life and AD&D insurance, employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment plans, maternity and non-primary caregiver leave, adoption assistance, employee referral program and vacation and paid holidays. We also offer a unique vehicle lease program that covers registration and insurance fees.

CARIAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds, and do not discriminate based on race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, color, gender identity/expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable laws.

Employment with CARIAD Inc. is subject to export control and sanctions compliance. Some positions may involve access to technology and/or software source code subject to U.S. legal restrictions on release to certain foreign persons based on citizenship or permanent residence. To ensure compliance, applicants will be required to provide information for screening. Employment may be contingent on the outcome, including verification of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status, or confirmation that a license, exemption, or exception applies. CARIAD retains the discretion to decline to obtain a required license in any case. By applying, you acknowledge and agree to participate in this process.