Senior Software Engineer - Vehicle Communication (C++)

Latitude AI ( lat.ai ) develops automated driving technologies, including L3, for Ford vehicles at scale. We're driven by the opportunity to reimagine what it's like to drive and make travel safer, less stressful, and more enjoyable for everyone.

When you join the Latitude team, you'll work alongside leading experts across machine learning and robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors and compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering – all dedicated to making a real, positive impact on the driving experience for millions of people.

As a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, we operate independently to develop automated driving technology at the speed of a technology startup. Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh with engineering centers in Dearborn, Mich., and Palo Alto, Calif.

Meet the team:

The Manage Vehicle Interfaces team focuses on vehicle communication by building and maintaining the in-vehicle interface layer for our zonal architecture. We define and evolve message schemas (IDL), generate and integrate serialization/decoding code, and implement the C/C++ runtime components that transmit/receive vehicle messages, enforce safety/security checks, and publish faults/telemetry. We also support the supporting ecosystem—bench simulation, logging/converters, and CI—so interface changes can ship reliably.

What you'll do:

End-to-end integration of vehicle interface definitions through schema/code generation into our onboard C++ publishers/subscribers

Produce high-quality, maintainable code for plumbing messages: encode/decode mappings, message validation (length, IDs), rate enforcement, and robust error handling/telemetry

Debug cross-boundary issues efficiently (network capture → deserialization → internal channels → consumers), and reduce integration friction by improving tooling, documentation, and developer workflows around interface changes

Contribute to verification readiness by adding targeted unit tests and bench-level tests for new/changed messages (examples: decoder correctness, malformed payloads, E2E/SecOC-related drop behavior as applicable)

What you'll need to succeed:

Strong modern C++ knowledge

Strong unit testing experience with a modern C++ unit testing framework, preferably GTest/GMock

Comfort in a large monorepo: Bazel targets, BUILD hygiene, etc

Strong integration discipline, able to modify multiple repos/areas in one set of changes without breaking integrations

Familiar with serialization boundaries (Serialization front-end vs. back-end/generated, decode/encode)

Linux application development fluency

Basic networking understanding (UDP batching, parsing messages)

Nice to have:

FreeRTOS/SafeRTOS experience

LwIP integration experience

Python experience

What we offer you:

Competitive compensation packages

High-quality individual and family medical, dental, and vision insurance

Health savings account with available employer match

Employer-matched 401(k) retirement plan with immediate vesting

Employer-paid group term life insurance and the option to elect voluntary life insurance

Paid parental leave

Paid medical leave

Unlimited vacation

15 paid holidays

Daily lunches, snacks, and beverages available in all office locations

Pre-tax spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses

Pre-tax commuter benefits

Monthly wellness stipend

Adoption/Surrogacy support program

Backup child and elder care program

Professional development reimbursement

Employee assistance program

Discounted programs that include legal services, identity theft protection, pet insurance, and more

Company and team bonding outlets: employee resource groups, quarterly team activity stipend, and wellness initiatives

Learn more about Latitude's team, mission and career opportunities at lat.ai !

Candidates for positions with Latitude AI must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status.