Freelance Robotic Simulation Engineer Jobs in Oregon

Job Summary

As Lead Simulation Engineer, you will architect and scale our core autonomous vehicle simulation engine, adapter layers, and unified evaluation metrics backend. You will drive the development of high-fidelity vehicle dynamics, multi-body physics, rendering, and sensor-simulation pipelines while guaranteeing stack-wide determinism and performance. Additionally, you will set technical direction for the simulation team, oversee code and design reviews, collaborate with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) partners on integration hooks, and mentor engineers across the organization.

Essential Responsibilities

• Architect and maintain the core simulation engine and the adapter layer that integrates it with the vehicle's autonomy middleware.
• Lead development of advanced ego-vehicle dynamics and multi-body physics models, and integrate external high-fidelity rendering and sensor-simulation engines.
• Own the mathematical logic and backend execution framework behind a unified metrics system for evaluating simulation results.
• Set the technical direction for the simulation engine, uphold determinism and performance across the stack, and lead design and code reviews.
• Partner with the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) team on integration hooks, and mentor engineers across the team.

Skills and Abilities

Success in this role typically requires the following competencies:

• Success in this role typically requires the following competencies:
• Deep expertise in modern C++ and Python for performance-critical systems programming.
• Strong software architecture skills for large, modular simulation or robotics systems, including deterministic, reproducible environments.
• Solid grounding in vehicle dynamics, multi-body physics, or related numerical modeling.
• Familiarity with autonomy or robotics middleware and integrating heterogeneous components into a coherent system.

Qualifications and Experience

Candidates most successful in this role typically hold the following qualifications or comparable knowledge or experience:

Required Qualifications:

• B.S., M.S. or Ph.D. Degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with a strong focus on simulation, robotics, or physics-based systems.
• Expert-level proficiency in modern C++ and Python, with a track record of architecting large-scale, performance-critical software.
• Hands-on experience with simulation loop design, vehicle dynamics, or integrating with robotics middleware and external engines.
• Prior experience leading and mentoring engineering teams.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Background in autonomous vehicles or advanced robotics.
• Experience with high-fidelity rendering or sensor-simulation pipelines.
• Familiarity with ML integration in simulation, such as data-driven traffic agents or scene reconstruction.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) testing.
• Knowledge of deterministic and real-time computing.

Physical Requirements

• Standard office working conditions which includes but not limited to:
• Prolonged sitting
• Prolonged standing
• Prolonged computer use
• Travel Required?  Moderate: 11%-25%

Want to learn more about our culture & benefits? Check out our website!

May Mobility is an equal opportunity employer.  All applicants for employment will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, genetics or any other legally protected basis.   Below, you have the opportunity to share your preferred gender pronouns, gender, ethnicity, and veteran status with May Mobility to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring and recruitment processes. Completion of these questions is entirely voluntary.  Any information you choose to provide will be kept confidential, and will not impact the hiring decision in any way. If you believe that you will need any type of accommodation, please let us know.

Note to Recruitment Agencies: May Mobility does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Furthermore, May Mobility does not pay placement fees for candidates submitted by any agency other than its approved partners.