Staff Motion Planning Engineer
Company websitemotional.com (Motional, opens in new tab)
Base salary $168K to $225K
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Boston, MA
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationBoston, MA
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since
About this job
On our Motion Planning team, you'll apply your passion in robotics and software development for production-ready autonomous vehicles. In this role you'll perform research, develop algorithms, and build software to generate safe, comfortable, and intuitive routes and motions.
Role responsibilities:
- Develop a variety of algorithms on planning for autonomous driving, including but not limited to search-based methods, sampling-based methods, optimization-based methods, linear-temporal logic, and decision making under uncertainty.
- Integrate and evaluate combinations of motion planning and prediction algorithms
- Design and build robust and scalable codebase that enables rapid exploration and evaluation of different motion planning approaches and algorithms.
- Interface with perception and prediction components upstream and trajectory optimization and tracking & control components downstream
- Participate in code reviews and mentoring sessions with senior team members
- Develop a culture of product focused engineering, research, and development
What we're looking for:
- Bachelor's required, Masters or PhD degree preferred in Robotics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field
- Proven impact and expertise in the robotics / autonomous vehicle field.
- 5-7+ years of research experience in robotics / motion planning
- 2+ years of C++ software development
- Past experience taking projects from problem formulation through implementation and deployment
- Thirst for knowledge and continuous innovation
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.
Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.
Salary Range
$168,000—$225,000 USD
Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.
Our journey is always people first.
We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.
Higher purpose, greater impact.
We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.
Scale up, not starting up.
Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.
Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.
Source: Motional on Greenhouse · View original posting (opens in new tab)
How this pay compares
Base floor $168,000, above 65% of the 529 Software Engineering roles in Massachusetts on this site. The employer's range is $57,000 wide, 34% of the floor. Observed open for 2 days so far (since Nov 6, 2026).
Pay in context
Among 529 Software Engineering roles in Massachusetts listed on this site, the median base floor is $149,000 and the middle half runs from $130,000 to $172,000. This role's floor ($168,000) is above 65% of them; 1 other lists the same floor.
Base floors of 529 Software Engineering roles in Massachusetts
Table
| Floor band | Share | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| $100K to $125K | 20.6% | 109 |
| $125K to $150K | 30.1% | 159 |
| $150K to $175K | 26.1% | 138 |
| $175K to $200K | 14.7% | 78 |
| $200K to $225K | 6.6% | 35 |
| $225K to $250K | 1.5% | 8 |
| $250K to $275K | 0.2% | 1 |
| $275K and up | 0.2% | 1 |
How this is calculated
- Statistic
- Base floor distribution of the cohort
- Formula
- count of cohort postings in each $25K band of published base floor / postings in the cohort
- Denominator
- 529 open postings with this job family in Massachusetts
- Sample size
- 529
- Hidden when
- needs at least 30 postings in the cohort
- Calculation version
- jobpage-analysis-v1
- Data as of
- 2026-11-08
- Employer set
- Open jobs on this site that publish a base salary of $100,000 or more
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 8, 2026.
State against nationwide
Median base floor in Massachusetts vs nationwide
Table
| Value | postings | |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineering, Massachusetts | $149K | 529 |
| Software Engineering, all states | $160K | 12,914 |
| This job's base floor (marked) | $168K |
How this is calculated
- Statistic
- Median floor, state vs nationwide
- Formula
- median published base floor of each cohort
- Denominator
- open postings of this job family
- Sample size
- 529 in Massachusetts; 12914 nationwide
- Hidden when
- needs at least 30 postings in both cohorts
- Calculation version
- jobpage-analysis-v1
- Data as of
- 2026-11-08
- Employer set
- Open jobs on this site that publish a base salary of $100,000 or more
How Motional pays
26 of Motional's 58 live roles on this site list a higher base floor and 30 list a lower one. Across them the median floor is $157,000; the middle half runs from $144,000 to $186,500.
Base floors of Motional's 58 live roles
Table
| Floor band | Share | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| $100K to $125K | 5.2% | 3 |
| $125K to $150K | 44.8% | 26 |
| $150K to $175K | 20.7% | 12 |
| $175K to $200K | 5.2% | 3 |
| $200K to $225K | 15.5% | 9 |
| $225K to $250K | 6.9% | 4 |
| $250K to $275K | 0.0% | 0 |
| $275K and up | 1.7% | 1 |
How this is calculated
- Statistic
- Employer base floor distribution
- Formula
- count of the employer's open roles in each $25K band of published base floor / its open roles
- Denominator
- 58 open public roles at this employer
- Sample size
- 58
- Hidden when
- needs at least 5 roles
- Calculation version
- jobpage-analysis-v1
- Data as of
- current
- Employer set
- Open jobs on this site that publish a base salary of $100,000 or more
Similar pay elsewhere
Other employers' Software Engineering roles in Massachusetts with the nearest published base floor to $168,000, one per employer.
- Principal Software Architect eClinical Solutions · base floor $168,000
- Sr. Software Development Engineer, AWS Transform AWS · base floor $168,100
- Sr Robotics Software Engineer, Amazon Robotics Amazon · base floor $168,100
- Principal Research Architect Bose · base floor $168,300
- Staff Software Engineer Axon · base floor $168,750
This listingStaff Motion Planning Engineer$168K to $225K
Senior Engineer$168,121 to $214,200
Software Engineering Manager -Data Platform$172K to $229K
Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Actions Sustaining$172K to $229K
Senior Motion Planning Engineer - Trajectory Generation$172K to $229K
Senior Motion Planning Engineer$172K to $229K
Senior Motion Planning Engineer - Safety-Layer$172K to $229K
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Staff Motion Planning Engineer (this listing) | $168K - $225K |
| Senior Engineer | $168,121 - $214,200 |
| Software Engineering Manager -Data Platform | $172K - $229K |
| Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Actions Sustaining | $172K - $229K |
| Senior Motion Planning Engineer - Trajectory Generation | $172K - $229K |
| Senior Motion Planning Engineer | $172K - $229K |
| Senior Motion Planning Engineer - Safety-Layer | $172K - $229K |
Observed changes
No changes to the pay or listing since we first observed this role on Nov 6, 2026 (2 days ago).
- First observed on the employer's board, already publishing a qualifying base salary
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-03-25
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Remote U.S.
$168,000—$225,000 USD
- 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.
