Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

🛠️ About our Engineering Teams

Our Application Software Engineering teams bring Wayve’s core AI and autonomous driving technology into production vehicles. Working at the intersection of AI and autonomy, vehicle engineering and our automotive partners, the team turns advances in our core technology into safe, reliable, production-ready driving capabilities across different vehicles, platforms and markets.

As Director of Application Software, US, you will lead and grow the US engineering organisation responsible for this work, building a strong technical bridge between Wayve’s core engineering teams and our OEM customers.

🧠 Your day-to-day

You will lead the engineering organisation responsible for applying Wayve’s AI Driver to customer vehicle programmes, from technical definition through integration, validation, release and production. You will work closely with our AI, autonomy, vehicle, product, safety and validation teams, while partnering directly with senior engineering leaders at our automotive customers.

This is a highly collaborative technical leadership role. You do not need to be the specialist in every part of the technology stack, but you will need the technical judgement to connect AI and autonomy with vehicle systems, make thoughtful engineering trade-offs and create an environment where great engineering teams can succeed.

🧩 What you’ll be working on:

Lead and grow our US Application Software organisation, developing senior engineers, technical leaders and engineering managers.

Own how Wayve’s core AI and autonomous driving technology is applied to customer vehicle programmes, from technical definition through integration, validation, release and production.

Guide the development and delivery of new ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities across machine learning, autonomy, vehicle systems and application software.

Create a strong technical bridge between Wayve’s core engineering teams and our OEM customers, ensuring vehicle and customer requirements are reflected in engineering priorities.

Provide technical and architectural leadership across autonomous driving, ML-enabled systems, embedded software, vehicle integration and deployment.

Partner closely with AI, autonomy, product, safety, validation, release and systems engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges and deliver high-quality customer outcomes.

Turn learning from individual customer programmes into reusable components, engineering practices and integration approaches that accelerate future deployments.

Build trusted relationships with senior engineering stakeholders at our automotive partners and represent Wayve in technical discussions, architecture reviews and programme planning.

Bring insights from customer deployments back into Wayve’s core technology and product teams, helping shape our architecture and global deployment strategy.

🙌 You should apply if:

You have significant engineering and leadership experience within autonomous driving, ADAS, automotive AI or related vehicle technologies.

You have a strong understanding of autonomous driving and machine learning, including how ML-enabled driving capabilities are developed, integrated, validated and deployed in vehicles.

You have taken new driving features, behaviours or capabilities from development towards production, with meaningful technical ownership across the autonomy or ML and vehicle integration lifecycle.

You have delivered complex software or AI-enabled systems within production automotive programmes and understand vehicle systems, embedded platforms and integration constraints.

You have built and led multidisciplinary engineering teams and developed senior engineers, technical leaders and engineering managers.