Principal Engineer - Evaluation & Simulation

Principal Engineer - Evaluation & Simulation Department: Engineering Team: Engineering Location: Sunnyvale, United States Type: Full-Time **About the Role** As a Principal Engineer in Evaluation & Simulation, you will drive the architectural vision and technical strategy for AV Labs' large-scale virtual testing, research, and validation platforms. In this critical leadership role, you will design and scale high-fidelity, closed-loop simulation frameworks that seamlessly combine raw and synthetic sensor data and behavioral models to rigorously evaluate state-of-the-art autonomous capabilities across millions of virtual miles. Operating as a key technical multiplier, you will define deterministic performance metrics, pioneer the generation of complex edge-case scenarios, and collaborate directly with cross-functional research teams. You aren't just building a testing environment; you are building the core evaluation infrastructure that accelerates AI research and sets the standard for uncompromising safety benchmarking across the broader AV ecosystem. **What You’ll Do** - **Strategic Simulation Architecture:** Lead the technical roadmap for our large-scale, cloud-based simulation platform, ensuring it can efficiently scale to run millions of closed-loop scenarios and validate complex urban edge cases - **High-Fidelity Virtual Validation:** Design and oversee the implementation of advanced simulation frameworks that integrate sensor data (LiDAR, camera, radar), cutting-edge neural rendering, and highly realistic traffic agent behaviors - **Metrics & Scenario Generation:** Define the deterministic and probabilistic evaluation metrics used to score autonomous behavior. Pioneer the systems used for procedural and data-driven generation of rare, long-tail edge-case scenarios - **End-to-End System Integration:** Act as the crucial bridge between simulation infrastructure and the core ML stack, ensuring seamless integration so that onboard models can be trained, tested, and validated in highly accurate virtual environments prior to field deployment - **Technical Mentorship & Influence:** Mentor senior and l