Freelance Simulation Software Engineer Jobs in Michigan

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co.

We are an in‑office company, and our expectation is that employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments.

We’re seeking a Senior Software Engineer to architect the world representation layer at the heart of Applied Intuition’s Acuity autonomy stack. If you’ve spent your career building the spatial worlds that games, simulations, or autonomous systems inhabit, defining how environments are structured, queried, and updated at high frequency this role was written for you.

This is a senior, deeply technical position sitting at the intersection of computational geometry, real‑time world modeling, and large‑scale simulation. You’ll own the foundational scene and mapping systems that downstream sensor fusion and path planning both depend on: defining 4D spatial abstractions, Entity Component Systems, and the high‑performance data structures that make multi‑agent reasoning across air, ground, and maritime domains possible.

The ideal candidate has built world representations from the ground up, whether in a game engine, a robotics simulator, or an autonomous vehicle stack and knows what it takes to make those representations fast, accurate, and scalable under real operational constraints.

• Architect World & Scene Representation Systems: Design and implement core spatial data structures, including Entity Component System frameworks, spatial indexing, occupancy representations, and 4D object management for large‑scale multi‑agent environments.
• Own Mapping & Geometry Pipelines: Build and optimize the computational geometry and world‑state systems that sit between raw sensor data and the path planning stack — including coordinate frame management, spatial queries, and environment abstraction layers.
• Drive Performance to the Metal: Write highly optimized C++ (C++20) with a focus on low‑latency, cache‑efficient, and memory‑conscious design. You should be comfortable profiling hot paths, eliminating allocations, and squeezing real‑time performance out of complex spatial systems.
• Lead Technical Strategy & Integration: Drive architectural decisions and design clean APIs that enable cross‑domain integration across air, ground, and maritime autonomy stacks.
• Collaborate & Mentor: Act as a technical anchor across teams — engaging proactively with sensor, planning, and simulation engineers to ensure the scene layer meets the needs of the full autonomy stack.

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, with deep expertise in spatial systems, world modeling, or simulation environments
• Expert‑level C++ skills (C++20 or later), including template metaprogramming, move semantics, SIMD, and performance optimization at the systems level
• Hands‑on experience building world or scene representations — from a game engine, sim platform, or autonomous system — including managing dynamic object state, spatial indexing, and real‑time updates
• Strong background in computational geometry: coordinate transformations, spatial data structures (BVH, octrees, k‑d trees), geometric algorithms, and collision/proximity systems
• Deep intuition for low‑latency, high‑throughput software design in real‑time environments
• Strong proficiency in Python and shell scripting for tooling and automation
• Experience with agentic coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) and AI‑assisted development workflows

Travel Requirements:

• Must be willing to travel as projects requires; average travel varies, but can be up to once a month for up to 1 week (~20%)

Security Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must hold or be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

For more information about U.S. security clearances: click here.

• Expertise with the Linux/Docker/C++ toolchains (including build systems like Nix and Bazel) and cross‑compilation.
• Experience with temporal reasoning systems and 4D scene representation (space + time)
• Background in game development, simulation, or virtual environments
• Knowledge of physics engines and collision detection systems
• Understanding of autonomous systems or robotics software architectures

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Applied Intuition pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum intended target base salary for new hire salaries for the position. The actual base salary offered to a successful candidate will additionally be influenced by a variety of factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.

Please reference the job posting subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full‑time position in the location listed is: $120,000 - 160,000 USD annually.

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal‑opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60‑1.4(a), 41 CFR 60‑300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60‑741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.