Zipline
Senior Motion Planning Software Engineer
$190K–$230K
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA +2 · Senior · Full-time · Posted Jul 13, 2026
- Location
- Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
South San Francisco, California, USA
South San Francisco, California, United States - Experience
- 3+ years building software for safety-critical systems (aerospace/AV/robotics).
- Education
- Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
About the job
Develops real-time motion planning and decision-making software for autonomous aircraft, validating and improving safe, reliable drone operations.
What you'll do
- Build trajectory generation and decision-making; optimize safety, energy, time, and reliability under vehicle constraints.
- Plan for uncertain environments and develop safety-critical obstacle avoidance and package delivery/pickup interfaces.
- Extend autonomy for new aircraft and payloads; validate through simulation and fleet data analysis.
What they ask for
- Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
- Strong Rust, C++, or C skills for real-time, fault-tolerant software on embedded/Linux.
- Depth in planning/search and trajectory optimization/MPC, shipped on real robots or vehicles.
- Hands-on experience with simulation at scale, SIL/HIL, log replay, and metrics-driven validation.
Pay
$190,000 - $230,000 USD base salary
Tools
Rust, C++, C, embedded/Linux, A*, RRT*, MPC, SIL/HIL
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