Latitude AI (lat.ai) develops automated driving technologies, including L3, for Ford vehicles at scale. Were driven by the opportunity to reimagine what its like to drive and make travel safer, less stressful, and more enjoyable for everyone.
When you join the Latitude team, youll work alongside leading experts across machine learning and robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors and compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering all dedicated to making a real, positive impact on the driving experience for millions of people.
As a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, we operate independently to develop automated driving technology at the speed of a technology startup. Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh with engineering centers in Dearborn, Mich., and Palo Alto, Calif.
Meet the team:
The RTOS team builds and maintains the real-time operating system foundation that every safety-critical software component on the vehicle's compute platform depends on. This includes the core build system, memory protection configuration, fault and crash handling, and the abstractions that let application teams write portable, safe embedded code. The team is also defining the next generation of runtime APIs and primitives that give application developers safe, predictable ways to manage memory and meet strict timing guarantees, without compromising the isolation that keeps one component's failure from affecting another. This role also has close visibility into hardware safety work, including hardware monitors, diagnostics, firewalls, power management, and thermal management for the compute platform, ensuring software and hardware safety strategies stay tightly aligned. This work sits at the intersection of systems programming, safety engineering, and platform architecture, and directly enables every other team building software that runs on the vehicle's compute hardware.
What youll do:
- Lead and grow a team of senior and staff embedded systems engineers responsible for the RTOS build, configuration, and runtime layer
- Set technical direction for scheduling policy, memory protection, fault handling, and multicore partitioning to meet real-time deadline and safety requirements
- Guide the design of new C++ runtime APIs and primitives that let application teams safely allocate and release memory and meet scheduling deadlines without violating isolation guarantees
- Help define core allocation strategy for the compute platform, determining which tasks and partitions should run on which cores based on timing, isolation, and safety requirements
- Own RTOS-level isolation across cores, including MPU configuration and privilege mode enforcement, while ensuring compatibility with hardware firewall protections owned by the hardware safety team
- Design cross-core synchronization primitives (e.g., locks, message passing) in collaboration with the runtime team when shared state is unavoidable, while driving toward architectures that minimize cross-core coordination overhead
- Work toward tooling that can determine multicore scheduling requirements systematically, replacing current manual scheduling analysis, with an eye toward eventual global, multi-core deadline guarantees
- Oversee the boot sequence, secure boot integration, and watchdog/fault escalation strategy for the compute platform, and provide input to the platform team on multicore boot sequencing and bring-up
- Partner with systems safety engineering to ensure the RTOS meets automotive functional safety requirements, including timing analysis and worst-case execution time guarantees
- Partner closely with the hardware safety team (hardware monitors, diagnostics, firewalls, power management, thermal management), with potential future organizational oversight as the team's structure evolves
- Work with silicon and platform partners to understand and work around multicore hardware quirks and core IP limitations
- Drive coding standards, static analysis, and debug/trace instrumentation practices across the RTOS codebase
- Manage hiring, performance, and career development for the team, with the potential to develop a manager reporting to you
What you'll need to succeed:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics or a related field and 10+ years of relevant experience, Master's degree and 8+ years of relevant experience, or PhD and 5+ years of relevant experience
- Significant experience in embedded systems or RTOS development, including several years in a technical leadership or management role
- Deep knowledge of real-time scheduling theory, memory protection mechanisms (MPU/MMU), and low-level C and C++ systems programming
- Experience designing APIs or abstraction layers for embedded runtimes
- Experience with multicore RTOS architectures and inter-core communication
- Experience with core allocation and task-to-core assignment strategies in multicore embedded systems
- Experience designing or working with cross-core synchronization primitives (locks, message passing, shared memory)
- Familiarity with automotive or other safety-critical software development practices (e.g., ISO 26262, DO-178C, or similar)
- Experience managing engineering teams, including hiring and performance management; experience developing other people managers is a plus
- Comfortable engaging with hardware-adjacent domains (power, thermal, diagnostics) even without being the domain expert
- Comfortable working with ambiguity and manual processes while driving toward better tooling and systematic solutions
- Strong cross-functional communication skills, able to work with hardware, safety, and application teams
Nice to have:
- Familiarity with MISRA C++ coding standards
- Prior experience in autonomous driving or ADAS software
- Bazel build system expertise
What we offer you:
- Competitive compensation packages
- High-quality individual and family medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Health savings account with available employer match
- Employer-matched 401(k) retirement plan with immediate vesting
- Employer-paid group term life insurance and the option to elect voluntary life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Paid medical leave
- Unlimited vacation
- 15 paid holidays
- Daily lunches, snacks, and beverages available in all office locations
- Pre-tax spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
- Pre-tax commuter benefits
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Adoption/Surrogacy support program
- Backup child and elder care program
- Professional development reimbursement
- Employee assistance program
- Discounted programs that include legal services, identity theft protection, pet insurance, and more
- Company and team bonding outlets: employee resource groups, quarterly team activity stipend, and wellness initiatives
Learn more about Latitudes team, mission and career opportunities at lat.ai!
The expected base salary range for this full-time position in California is $253,120 - $379,680 USD. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Latitude employees are also eligible to participate in Latitudes annual bonus programs, equity compensation, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.
Candidates for positions with Latitude AI must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status.
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