Senior Software Engineer: Fleet Enablement & Insights (Map Validation & Annotation Platform)

Title: Senior Software Engineer: Fleet Enablement & Insights (Map Validation & Annotation Platform) Location: Ann Arbor, MI, Blacksburg, VA, Fort Worth, TX, Remote - US

About the Company 

At Torc, we have always believed that autonomous vehicle technology will transform how we travel, move freight, and do business. 
A leader in autonomous driving since 2007, Torc has spent over a decade commercializing our solutions with experienced partners. Now a part of the Daimler family, we are focused solely on developing software for automated trucks to transform how the world moves freight. 
Join us and catapult your career with the company that helped pioneer autonomous technology, and the first AV software company with the vision to partner directly with a truck manufacturer. 

Meet the Team 

The Senior Software Engineer will be a technical leader on the Fleet Enablement & Insights team, responsible for architecting and building systems that span two critical pipelines for Torc's autonomous truck platform: the map validation and simulation pipelines and the annotation platform. This role owns hard engineering problems behind both, designing scalable services and data pipelines that package maps for simulation, validate mapping updates before release, and the systems required for scalable web-based annotation tooling. The ideal candidate is a seasoned backend or full-stack engineer who thrives in a fast-paced environment, sets the technical bar for others, and is energized by complex data engineering, distributed systems, and geospatial simulation challenges. This position offers the opportunity to work at the intersection of software engineering, autonomous systems, and large-scale data operations, with a direct line of sight to the data that trains and validates the AV stack. 

What You’ll Do 

• Architect, build, and own backend services and data pipelines that power the map validation and simulation pipelines for the autonomous trucking platform. 

• Provide technical leadership to the annotation platform building scalable web-based annotation tooling including cuboid and polygon editing, cross-frame interpolation and track propagation, attribute editing, and review-first (accept/reject) workflows. 

• Design robust data models and storage architectures across relational, spatial, and large-scale object stores, ensuring data integrity, lineage, and performance from ingest through delivery. 

• Build high-performance point cloud and image rendering with three.js/WebGL: octree/LOD-based streaming formats, predictive prefetching for smooth frame scrubbing, camera-LiDAR projection, and multi-sensor overlays across a high camera count. 

• Leverage AWS cloud services (e.g., S3, Lambda, ECS, RDS) to build and deploy scalable, reliable pipelines and services, and set the standards for how the team builds on them. 

• Drive technical design and architecture decisions across the map validation and annotation platform domains, weighing tradeoffs, documenting direction, and aligning stakeholders. 

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including Mapping, Simulation, Annotation, and Perception to align capabilities with upstream and downstream requirements. 

• Mentor engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and pairing, and raise the bar for engineering excellence, documentation, and operational rigor across the team. 

• Identify and drive down technical debt, performance bottlenecks, and reliability gaps across the map validation and annotation stacks, and lead the response when they surface in production. 

What You’ll Need to Succeed 

• Strong experience (5+ years) building and operating production backend services at scale. 

• Expertise in Python, with a track record of designing and shipping production-quality services and tools. 

• Strong proficiency with SQL for querying, transforming, and analyzing relational and analytical data. 

• Experience designing and building web services and APIs that support web-based tooling, with strong knowledge of TypeScript and modern web frameworks (backend depth required; full-stack a strong plus). 

• Working knowledge of C++, or the ability to ramp into it. 

• Strong database and data-modeling expertise, including hands-on experience with PostgreSQL or similar, and designing schemas for integrity, lineage, and performance. 

• Demonstrated ownership of system design and architecture for complex, multi-service or multi-pipeline systems. 

• Proficiency with Git and GitHub for version control, branching strategies, and collaborative code workflows. 

• Familiarity with JIRA or similar project management tools for tracking tasks, bugs, and sprint deliverables. 

• Strong software engineering fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, distributed systems, and reliability engineering. 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to lead technical discussions and collaborate across technical and non-technical stakeholders. 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience. 

Bonus Points 

• Experience designing data annotation, labeling, or data-delivery platforms and the web tooling behind them. 

• Familiarity with PostGIS for advanced spatial queries, geometry operations, and geospatial data management. 

• Experience working with large binary or sensor datasets (point clouds, imagery, video) and optimizing data-heavy user interfaces for performance. 

• Experience with point cloud rendering and streaming formats (octree/LOD structures such as Potree or COPC, 3D Tiles, LAS/LAZ) or large-scale spatial data structures. 

• Experience with browser-based 3D graphics (three.js, WebGL, or similar), or strong graphics fundamentals and a demonstrated ability to ramp quickly. 

• Prior experience working with High-Definition (HD) maps, map formats (e.g. OpenDRIVE, NDS, Lanelet2), or map production pipelines. 

• Familiarity with robotics data and visualization ecosystems (e.g., Rerun, Foxglove, MCAP, ROS bags). 

• Background in autonomous trucking or autonomous vehicles, with an understanding of how map and annotation data feed the AV stack. 

• Contributions to open-source geospatial, data engineering, simulation, robotics, or annotation projects. 

Perks of Being a Full-time Torc’r 
Torc cares about our team members and we strive to provide benefits and resources to support their health, work/life balance, and future. Our culture is collaborative, energetic, and team focused. Torc offers:    
 

• A competitive compensation package that includes a bonus component and stock options 

• 100% paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for full-time employees 

• 401K plan with a 6% employer match 

• Flexibility in schedule and generous paid vacation (available immediately after start date) 

• AD+D and Life Insurance 

At Torc, we’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We celebrate the uniqueness of our Torc’rs and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status, or disabilities. 
Even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications listed for this opportunity, we encourage you to apply. 

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Torc's total compensation package will also include our corporate bonus and stock option plan. Dependent on the position offered, sign-on payments, relocation, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits.

Job ID:  102972