Senior Software Engineer - Global Planning

About Overland AI: 

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Overland AI is transforming land operations for modern defense. The company leverages over a decade of advanced research in robotics and machine learning, as well as a field-test forward ethos, to deliver combined capabilities for unit commanders. Our OverDrive autonomy stack enables ground vehicles to navigate and operate off-road in any terrain without GPS or direct operator control. Our intuitive OverWatch C2 interface provides commanders with precise coordination capabilities essential for mission success.

Overland AI has secured funding from prominent defense tech investors, including 8VC and Point 72, and built trusted partnerships with DARPA, the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command. Backed by eight-figure contracts across the Department of Defense, we are strengthening national security by iterating closely with end users engaged in tactical operations.

Role Summary

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer – Global Planning to design and implement planning algorithms that generate kilometer-scale routes across complex off-road and on-road terrain. This role focuses on reasoning over large environments, building and searching graph-based representations, and balancing optimality, robustness, and computational efficiency. The ideal candidate has deep experience with motion planning algorithms, understands how to scale planning systems to large maps and long horizons, and enjoys turning theoretical methods into practical systems that operate in real-world environments.

In this role, you will:

• Design and implement global motion planning algorithms for autonomous ground vehicles operating over kilometer-scale environments.
• Build and maintain graph-based planning representations derived from terrain data, road networks, and costmaps.
• Develop and optimize search and routing algorithms that scale efficiently in large, complex environments.
• Help to integrate global planners with downstream local planning systems.
• Evaluate planner performance using simulation, offline datasets, and field testing, iterating based on real-world behavior.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related discipline and 5+ years of relevant experience; OR 7+ years of relevant professional experience
• Development experience in Python and C++
• 5+ years of professional experience developing and implement