System Engineer - Autonomous Vehicle (AV)

Systems Engineer – Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Hardware & Integration

Location:

Charlottesville, VA (on-site) 

Department:

Engineering 

Reports To:

GM/VP Automated Transit

Employment Type:

Full-Time

About the Role

Perrone Robotics is looking for a hands-on Systems Engineer, based out of our Charlottesville, VA office, to own the hardware, sensor, connectivity, and safety-critical systems behind our TONY AV Kit deployments across transit and government partners nationwide. This role sits at the intersection of hardware integration, software/DevOps support, and technical documentation: troubleshooting issues on deployed vehicles, validating safety-critical brake/actuator systems, supporting software builds and data pipelines alongside our SW engineering team, and building the SOPs and documentation that let PRI and its outfitting partners scale installs reliably.

What You'll Do

• Sensor systems:

  Diagnose and resolve LiDAR (Ouster, Livox) and RADAR issues on deployed vehicles, including firmware version management, configuration review, and direct escalation to vendor technical support (e.g., filing and managing Ouster support cases) when hardware faults are suspected.

• Safety-critical actuator validation:

  Own brake fail-safe testing on bus/van brake control modules (Roboteq), verifying and documenting that actuators correctly RELEASE (not apply) on manual-mode transition, communications loss, and power loss. Produce formal pass/fail QA reports for safety-critical findings.

• Connectivity & telematics:

  Manage cellular/networking hardware (Pepwave routers), including firmware updates, signal testing across major cellular carriers, SIM provisioning and carrier-side troubleshooting, and RTK/GPS subscription administration.

• Test infrastructure:

  Design and build field test fixtures (e.g., mobile rolling LiDAR/RADAR test carts) to enable fast, isolated sensor diagnostics independent of full vehicle wiring, helping distinguish hardware, wiring, and software root causes.

• Documentation:

  Author and maintain installation SOPs, BOMs, wiring diagrams, and assembly diagrams so third-party outfitters (e.g., van/bus upfitters) can execute installs to spec with minimal hand-holding.

• New hardware rollouts:

  Support features from concept through install documentation, including dual motor/steering redundancy, remote start/stop systems, and NAV module mounting and installation.

• Fleet testing cadence:

  Execute recurring engineering test cycles across deployed vehicles, log findings, and track defects to closure in coordination with software engineering and QA.

• Defect triage & reproduction:

  Work directly with software engineers to reproduce and diagnose reported behavior issues, such as AV/manual mode brake-release transitions, lane-keeping-assist inconsistencies, acceleration/deceleration tuning at stops, and UI/mode-indication bugs, supplying logs, operator context, and physical verification.

• Data collection & pipelines:

  Manage end-of-day ADAS/AV data collection workflows (onboard tablet log capture, upload tooling) and ensure mission/log data reliably reaches cloud storage (e.g., AWS S3) for the software team to analyze.

• DevOps / software deployment & production support:

  Deploy, configure, and update mission software, firmware, and profiles on vehicle compute hardware (tablets, e-Box/Nuvo units); support production rollout of software releases across the fleet and troubleshoot issues that arise post-deployment, partnering with SW engineering on root cause.

Required Skills & Experience

• Hands-on experience with vehicle electrical/electronic systems, mobile robotics, or automotive/heavy-vehicle hardware integration.
• Practical experience with LiDAR and/or RADAR sensors, including installation, calibration, firmware management, and fault diagnosis (Ouster and/or Livox experience a strong plus).
• Experience with motor controllers/actuator systems (Roboteq or equivalent).
• Working knowledge of vehicle networking and diagnostic interfaces (Ethernet/UDP, CAN, Modbus, USB-based configuration tools).
• Experience with cellular/networking hardware (Pepwave or similar) and carrier-side troubleshooting (SIM provisioning, signal diagnostics, firmware).
• Strong technical writing skills, comfortable producing SOPs, BOMs, and wiring/assembly diagrams for non-expert audiences.
• Comfortable collaborating closely with software engineers, reproducing bugs, interpreting logs, and providing the field/hardware context needed to root-cause issues.
• Basic scripting/command-line comfort (e.g., shell, Python) sufficient to support data collection tooling, log uploads, and software/firmware deployment to vehicle hardware.
• Methodical, safety-first troubleshooting mindset with clear, timely written status updates and effective vendor-support escalation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in autonomous vehicle (AV) or ADAS deployment, particularly transit/bus applications.
• Familiarity with government/transit contracting environments and formal QA/safety documentation processes.
• Experience supporting multiple concurrent deployment sites/customers.
• Exposure to DevOps practices or production software support (deployment tooling, cloud storage/data pipelines, release/version management) in a hardware-adjacent environment.
• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Automotive Technology, or equivalent hands-on field experience.
• Able to travel occasionally (roughly 10% of the time) to support field deployments.

What Success Looks Like

• Hardware issues are diagnosed quickly and accurately, with clear documentation and appropriate vendor engagement.
• Safety-critical brake/actuator systems are verified and documented to a rigorous, repeatable standard.
• Installation documentation is complete enough that outfitting partners can execute builds with minimal PRI oversight.
• Fleet-wide test cycles run on schedule with defects tracked transparently to closure.
• Software/firmware deployments to the fleet go smoothly, with data collection pipelines running reliably and production issues resolved quickly in partnership with SW engineering.

Company Description

Perrone Robotics, Inc. (PRI), based in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been developing and deploying autonomous vehicle (AV) solutions since 2003. As an early pioneer in the AV space, PRI fielded driverless vehicles in the 2005 and 2007 DARPA Grand and Urban Challenge events. The company offers a patented full-stack AV software platform called MAX, which is integrated into a complete AV retrofit kit known as TONY. TONY AV kits deliver rapid, full autonomy to a wide range of vehicles used for passenger and goods transit. PRI provides end-to-end outfitting and deployment services for AVs, working closely with a core group of strategic partners.