Lead Autonomy Engineer

MISSION TAR’s mission is to power intelligence for the world. We are building the world’s first off-grid power plant for data centers powered by renewable technologies. We firmly believe AI should be built in the US for the benefit of all people. For that, power must be fast, clean and scalable. We are singularly focused on delivering GW-scale power faster than anyone has ever done, by rethinking every layer of the stack. We vertically integrate to solve every bottleneck, from racking systems to power electronics to dispatch algorithms to on-site construction. Leave your mark on the future of civilization-scale energy infrastructure. COMPANY TAR is both a hardware and software company, we are building out massive, critical, physical infrastructure. TAR is working directly with one of the largest compute providers to scale and deploy 5GWs by 2028. We operate on… - High ownership. High Agency. Own project end-to-end. Great people don’t need to be managed. - Speed. We achieve great things on incredible timelines. We push ourselves to go faster. - First principles. No ego. No hierarchy. Challenge every assumption. - Passion. Solving the energy problem is one of the largest challenges that faces the world now and in the future. About the role: TAR builds its own construction robots to install a proprietary solar racking system at the scale and pace gigawatt campuses demand. The autonomy software that drives them has to hold up in the dust, heat, and vibration of a live construction site in West Texas. As Lead Autonomy Engineer, you own a core piece of the autonomy stack: perception, planning, or controls; from early development through field deployment, and act as the technical lead for a small group of autonomy engineers. You report into the VP of Autonomy and split time between the San Francisco robotics facility and regular field trips to West Texas Responsibilities: - Own the technical design and delivery plan for a defined area of the autonomy stack (e.g., perception, planning, or controls), turning org-level roadmap priorities into concrete engineering work. - Lead day-to-day technical direction for a small group of autonomy engineers, reviewing designs and code and mentoring less experienced engineers. - Drive your area of the stack from early development through field deployment, validating against real operating conditions. - Make architecture and design decisions within your area that hold up under field conditions, working closely with hardware engineers so autonomy is co-developed with the robots it runs on. - Own the development lifecycle for your area: roadmap input, prioritization, release, monitoring, and iteration. - Spend time at the West Texas site (1-3 weeks per year) closing the loop between field performance and software fixes. - Partner with the VP of Autonomy, contributing to hiring and roadmap decisions Qualifications: - 5-7 years of software engineering experience, including some experience leading a small team or serving as a technical lead on a project. - Hands-on experience owning software or autonomy for a robotics system through to production or field deployment - Comfortable writing realtime, safety critical software with limited compute - Solid expertise in one or more of perception, navigation, planning, or controls for autonomous systems. - Comfortable reviewing others' technical work and communicating design trade-offs to a manager or cross-functional partners. Nice to have: - Experience with autonomy for energy, industrial, or infrastructure robotics rather than consumer robotics. - Experience partnering closely with hardware teams on tightly coupled hardware/software/autonomy systems. - Background at a high-growth, venture-backed robotics or hardware startup. SALARY AND BENEFITS - Up to $15K relocation bonus - Unlimited PTO - Health, Dental, Vision insurance - $1K monthly stipend for meals