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Vp Software Development Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Planted Solar

VP Software Engineering

Oakland, CA · On-site

$275K - $325K/yr

Organizational Leadership & Talent Development: Build, scale, and mentor a high-performing, multi-level software organization, including direct management of engineering managers, principal engineers ...

Outpost

VP of Software

Los Angeles, CA · On-site

$275K - $325K/yr

VP of Software Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week) The return lane ... Establish software development best practices, testing, and release processes * Collaborate with ...

Outpost

VP of Software

Los Angeles, CA · On-site

$275K - $325K/yr

VP of Software Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week) The return lane ... Establish software development best practices, testing, and release processes * Collaborate with ...

Outpost

VP of Software

Los Angeles, CA · On-site

$275K - $325K/yr

VP of Software Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week) The return lane ... Establish software development best practices, testing, and release processes * Collaborate with ...

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Showing results 21-40

All JobsVp Software Development JobsVp Software Development Jobs in California

Vp Software Development information

See California salary details

$148.5K

$182.6K

$205.3K

How much do vp software development jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 10, 2026, the average yearly pay for vp software development in California is $182,577.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $170,200.00 and $196,400.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What does a VP of Software Development do?

A VP of Software Development is responsible for overseeing the software development teams, setting technical direction, and ensuring that projects align with the company’s strategic goals. They manage senior engineering staff, collaborate with other departments, and help define best practices for software architecture and development processes. Additionally, they are involved in hiring, mentoring, and evaluating developers while ensuring timely delivery of high-quality software products.

How does a VP of Software Development typically balance strategic leadership with day-to-day technical oversight?

As a VP of Software Development, you are expected to set the long-term technological vision while also staying involved in the team's day-to-day operations. This often means collaborating closely with engineering leads, product managers, and executive leadership to align software initiatives with business goals. While much of your time will be spent on high-level planning, budgeting, and mentoring, you will also need to maintain visibility into ongoing projects, address roadblocks, and ensure best practices are followed across teams. Successfully balancing these responsibilities requires strong communication, delegation, and a deep understanding of both technical and business priorities.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a VP of Software Development, and why are they important?

To thrive as a VP of Software Development, you need deep expertise in software engineering, team leadership, and strategic project management, often backed by a degree in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with modern development frameworks, cloud platforms, agile methodologies, and tools like Jira or GitHub is typically expected. Exceptional communication, vision, and the ability to inspire and mentor teams set outstanding leaders apart in this role. These skills ensure the successful delivery of high-quality software products, alignment with business goals, and the development of high-performing engineering teams.

What is the difference between Vp Software Development vs Software Engineering Manager?

AspectVp Software DevelopmentSoftware Engineering Manager
ResponsibilitiesOversees multiple development teams, sets strategic goals, manages budgetsManages software engineering teams, oversees project execution, ensures technical quality
Required CredentialsBachelor's/Master's in CS or related, extensive experience, leadership skillsBachelor's/Master's in CS or related, several years of engineering management experience
Work EnvironmentExecutive-level, strategic planning, cross-department collaborationTechnical team management, project delivery, technical mentorship

The Vp Software Development typically holds a higher strategic and leadership role, overseeing multiple teams and aligning development with business goals. The Software Engineering Manager focuses more on managing engineering teams, project execution, and technical quality. Both roles require strong technical backgrounds, but the Vp is more involved in strategic planning and executive decision-making.

What are the most commonly searched types of Software Development jobs in California?

The most popular types of Software Development jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Vp Software Development jobs?

Cities in California with the most Vp Software Development job openings:

Vp Software Development jobs near you
Infographic showing various Vp Software Development job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 77% Full Time, 18% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 86% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $182,577 per year, or $87.8 per hour.

VP Software Engineering

Oakland, CA • On-site

Planted Solar
See more jobs at Planted Solarexternal

$275K - $325K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Posted 21 days ago

Key responsibilities

  • Build, scale, and mentor a high-performing, multi-level software organization across various domains including robotics, web-based tools, and AI systems.

  • Own the software roadmap and ensure the on-time delivery of complex, multi-system software projects across multiple products.

  • Lead development and deployment of software for autonomous robotic vehicle platforms, including fleet logic, behavior trees, path planning, and controls.

Job description

Energy is the binding constraint on human progress. Solar and storage are the lowest cost sources of new generation, but the conventional project delivery model has not changed in 30 years and deployment cannot keep pace with demand.
Planted is turning power plants from projects into products. Our software turns raw land into a build-ready power plant in minutes instead of months. Our hardware delivers twice the energy on every acre. Our robots put steel in the ground so output scales with production lines instead of headcount.
We're looking for a technical leader to build and scale the software organization at the center of that transition - from the autonomy stack running on our robots to the AI systems that will make deployment even faster. You will own the architecture, roadmap, and team driving Planted's next phase of growth.
We don't wait for abundance. We build it.
About The Role
Software is both the brains of our machines and the connective tissue of Planted operations. You will lead and grow a software organization spanning three domains: autonomous robotic vehicle software, our suite of web-based power plant design, build, and operate tools, and an emerging portfolio of AI agents that automate engineering, estimation, and operations workflows.
We are looking for a pragmatic technical leader with a track record of building high-performing, multi-disciplinary software teams. You must be deep enough technically to drive key architectural decisions across the vertically integrated platform, and strategic enough to drive and execute on the product roadmap. You have systems literacy (e.g., how data moves from a robot's camera into an ML pipeline) and prioritize delivery mechanics over heavy-handed project management. Our robots are building projects in the field today and our design software is in front of customers. Your mandate is to scale the product and the team to support our current 10x year over year growth in megawatts deployed.
The Team: You will join a group at the intersection of deep tech and massive physical infrastructure. Our engineering core brings robotics and automation DNA from SpaceX and Tesla, working directly alongside veteran energy developers. We are led by repeat founders with a successful prior exit (Cogenra to SunPower). Planted is backed by leading investors in energy and Physical AI, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Piva Capital.
The annual salary range for this full-time position is $275,000-$325,000 plus a meaningful equity stake and benefits. Pay within the range is based on candidate experience, job-specific skills, and education. The target experience for the position is 10-15+ years. We work together in person 5 days/week at our HQ in Oakland, CA.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Organizational Leadership & Talent Development: Build, scale, and mentor a high-performing, multi-level software organization, including direct management of engineering managers, principal engineers, and system architects. Foster a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous growth. Recruit and retain top-tier software talent across cloud, spatial/CAD, embedded, and robotics domains while allowing technical experts to own the architecture.
  • Strategic Execution & Stakeholder Management: Own the software roadmap and drive the predictable, on-time delivery of complex, multi-system software projects across multiple products. Set clear expectations, communicate progress, and align software deliverables. Collaborate seamlessly with the Commercial team, Hardware Engineering, and Project Operations. Make the build-vs-buy, stack, and platform decisions that will hold up at 100x scale.
  • Software Product Suite Ownership: Lead development across our core platforms: Power Planter (automated layout, engineering, and costing), Build View (autonomous fleet management, field deployment, and QA/QC), and Operate View (inspection, operations, and maintenance tools for large-scale solar plants).
  • Autonomous Robotic Vehicle Platforms: Lead the engineering teams deploying the full software stack across our autonomous field machine fleet (fleet logic, behavior trees, and path planning, modern and classical controls, ROS2, etc.).
  • Data Flywheel: We operate our field machines like modern manufacturing lines. You will own the telemetry and data infrastructure that monitors production with statistical process control and turns every installation into training data for better models and improved machine productivity.
  • AI Systems: Build the team and roadmap for AI agents that automate design, estimation, project delivery, and operations workflows, grounded in the data our robots and projects generate.

QUALIFICATIONS
  • 10 to 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years leading engineering teams (senior ICs and managers) shipping production systems.
  • Deep expertise in full stack software development involving hardware and software integration like robotics, IoT, or industrial automation.
  • Track record shipping robotics, autonomous vehicles, or hardtech software into the field at scale-with a strong focus on fleet reliability, continuous testing, and real-time observability.
  • Broad leadership capability across platform/full-stack teams, cloud infrastructure, data systems, or applied AI/ML groups outside your core specialty.
  • Systems architecture judgment with strong understanding of how technologies work together (e.g., middleware, pub/sub architectures, web services, and ML pipelines). You do not need to write the C++ on the robot, but you must understand edge compute, latency, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
  • Field robotics: Experience in construction, agriculture, mining, defense, logistics, or autonomous vehicles operating off-pavement (e.g., Waymo, Cruise, Bedrock Automation).
  • DevOps & Delivery: Strong understanding of modern software deployment and containerization (Docker). Experience with CI/CD, release pipelines, and edge deployment strategies, focusing on how code reliably gets to the machine.
  • Agentic and AI-Augmented Software Engineering: Experience building, rebuilding, and managing AI-integrated software development platforms and teams.
  • Robotics & Controls: Familiarity with the complexities of deploying field-robotics software (e.g., ROS2, vehicle navigation, and autonomy stacks). You understand the unique delivery challenges of robotics compared to traditional software.
  • Perception & Sensing: Experience with LiDAR, stereoscopic/IR cameras, object detection, spatial mapping, and SLAM in dynamic outdoor environments. Strong understanding of middleware, pub/sub architectures alongside web services, backend technologies, and ML pipelines.
  • Spatial / CAD Expertise: Deep understanding of software platforms working with geospatial data (GIS, CAD engines, 3D modeling, or automated parametric design).
  • Industrial Operations: Exposure to automated manufacturing execution systems (MES) managing statistical process control, telemetry monitoring, or fleet analytics in hardtech, renewable energy environments, or advanced manufacturing.
What We Offer
  • 11 paid company holidays and flexible Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • Company-paid in-office lunches
  • Stock options
  • Medical, vision, dental, and other benefits
  • Pre-tax commuter benefits
  • 401(k)
  • A chance to have an empowered, meaningful, and early role in climate
How This Is A Fit
  • You want to solve challenging problems
  • You are biased towards action and focus on the vital work that drives the most impact
  • You prioritize the physical and psychological safety of yourself and those around you
  • You are humble, embrace change, and deliver and receive candid feedback
  • You are optimistic about the future and can make tough decisions to help get there
  • You have high expectations and coach, develop, and make time to help others

Planted is an equal opportunity employer committed to growing inclusively, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, medical condition, age, or veteran status. However you identify, or whatever background you bring with you, please apply. We look forward to hearing from you.

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