Senior System Software Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles
Company websitenvidia.com (NVIDIA, opens in new tab)
Base salary $184,000 to $356,500
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Santa Clara, CA
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationSanta Clara, CA
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since
About this job
The Autonomous Vehicles Platform team is now looking for a Senior System Software Engineer. Our team builds the NVIDIA DriveWorks SDK with the goal to provide a scalable software stack and framework to build autonomous vehicles. We are seeking software engineers with interests in designing, developing and maintaining many aspects of the core technology around sensor drivers and interfaces, data streaming, data recording and playback, and vehicle interface abstraction.
What You Will Be Doing:
- Create and optimize software architecture and frameworks for real-world performance while matching or exceeding customer requirements.
- Working with vendors developing innovative sensors for vehicles.
- Developing sensor drivers, plug-ins, and processing functions around sensor data.
- Create highly efficient sensor data recording, playback and visualization tools.
- Performing in-vehicle tests, collecting data and analyzing integrity.
- Working with our car teams and control teams to develop interfaces to the vehicles to enable self-driving.
- Supporting data collection campaigns for our autonomous vehicle program.
- Developing unit tests, documentation for features, evaluating quality and proposing corrective actions.
- Creating highly efficient product code in C++, making use of high algorithmic parallelism offered by GPGPU programming (CUDA), and following quality and safety standards such as defined by MISRA.
What We Need to See:
- BS/MS in Computer Engineering, Computer Science or related field (or equivalent experience).
- Excellent C and C++ programming skills.
- 8+ years of proven experience developing and debugging multithreaded/distributed applications like multimedia systems, game engines, etc.
- Strong knowledge of programming and debugging techniques, especially for parallel and distributed architectures.
- Background on Linux, Android, and/or other real-time operating systems.
- Experience with sensors such as cameras, LiDAR, radar, ultrasonics, IMU, GPS
- Experience with vehicle control interfaces.
- Thrive on writing low latency, highly performant code.
- Great communication and analytical skills.
Ways to Stand Out from the Crowd:
- Understanding of embedded architectures.
- Experience with data-parallel and/or GPGPU programming, CUDA, and OpenCL.
- Software development for modern OpenGL (Core Profile) and Linux.
- Experience with version control systems GIT and build system CMake.
#AutonomousVehicles
Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:184,000 USD – 287,500 USD for Level 4; and 224,000 USD – 356,500 USD for Level 5.
You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.
Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.This posting is for an existing vacancy.
NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.
NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.Source: NVIDIA on Workday · View original posting (opens in new tab)
Pay in context
This role's base floor ($184,000) is above 56% of the 4,307 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 128 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $176,000; the middle half runs from $149,100 to $202,500.
Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 7, 2026.
This listingSenior System Software Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles$184,000 to $356,500
Senior Software Engineer, Subnet Management$184,000 to $356,500
Senior Software Engineer, AI Networking$184,000 to $356,500
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning Safety$184,000 to $356,500
Senior Firmware Security Architect, Networking$184,000 to $356,500
Senior Compiler Engineer - AI$184,000 to $287,500
Senior System Software Engineer, Performance - CUDA Driver$184,000 to $356,500
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Senior System Software Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles (this listing) | $184,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Software Engineer, Subnet Management | $184,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Software Engineer, AI Networking | $184,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning Safety | $184,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Firmware Security Architect, Networking | $184,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Compiler Engineer - AI | $184,000 - $287,500 |
| Senior System Software Engineer, Performance - CUDA Driver | $184,000 - $356,500 |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- Began meeting the published-salary criteria
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-10-30
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: US, CA, Santa Clara (Levels 4-5 combined)
184,000 USD – 287,500 USD for Level 4; and 224,000 USD – 356,500 USD for Level 5.
- Method
- Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
- Checked
- Rule set
- us-base-v2
The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.
What we verified
- The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
- The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
- The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.
We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.