Director of Application Software, Wayve

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in a leadership role in automotive or embedded systems domains
• Deep expertise in C++, Python, and system-level programming for Linux, QNX, and Adaptive AUTOSAR environments
• Proven experience integrating AI workloads into automotive software stacks, ideally across multiple hardware platforms (e.g., NVIDIA Orin, Qualcomm Ride, etc.)
• Strong understanding of virtualization, hypervisors, bootloaders, and automotive middleware
• Familiarity with ISO 26262, ASIL decomposition strategies, and functional safety considerations for application-layer software
• Experience building and leading distributed, high-performance engineering teams

Desirable

• We are seeking a visionary and technically strong Director of Application Software to lead the architecture, development, and delivery of the application-layer software libraries that enable our product to integrate into diverse customer platforms and vehicle architectures
• This leader will drive the definition and implementation of robust and portable software integration frameworks compatible with Linux-based hypervisors, QNX, Adaptive AUTOSAR, and other industry-relevant automotive OS and middleware stacks
• This role requires close collaboration with platform engineering, system integration, product, and customer engineering teams to ensure consistent and reliable product behaviour across heterogeneous deployment environments
• Own the application-layer software architecture and lead the development of reusable libraries and interfaces that enable seamless integration of our embodied AI stack into OEM environments
• Define and maintain robust abstraction layers and platform adaptation strategies for a variety of target systems (e.g., NVIDIA Drive, Qualcomm Ride, Renesas, etc.)
• Lead cross-functional efforts to ensure compatibility with Linux (with hypervisors), QNX, and Adaptive AUTOSAR operating environments
• Collaborate with system architecture and product teams to define integration requirements aligned with safety, performance, and scalability objectives
• Ensure software interfaces comply with industry standards and customer-specific integration patterns
• Hire, lead, and mentor a high-performance application software team focused on cross-platform delivery and deployment tooling
• Drive quality and robustness by incorporating modern software engineering practices (e.g., CI/CD, containerization, secure boot support, OTA readiness)
• Work directly with OEM and Tier 1 partners during evaluation, integration, and validation of the product in customer environments
• Serve as the technical point of contact for internal and external stakeholders on all matters related to application software architecture and integration

• Learning budget
• In-house chef
• Flexible Working
• Private health insurance and therapy
• Workplace nursery scheme
• Onsite bar
• Large social budgets
• Enhanced parental leave

Total funding: $1.3bn

Wayve is developing artificial intelligence (AI) that teaches cars to drive autonomously using reinforcement learning, simulation, and computer vision. Wayve’s core premise is that the big breakthrough in self-driving cars will come from better AI brains rather than more sensors or “hand-coded” rules which it believes are highly restrictive and not at all scalable.