Vehicle Integration Engineer - Field Support

About the Role

Kodiak is an autonomous ground transportation company focused on making freight movement safer and more efficient. The organization builds AI-driven systems for commercial trucking and public-sector use, runs freight operations daily in the southern United States, and has also applied its self-driving technology to defense-related capabilities.

This opening is for a Vehicle Integration Engineer focused on field support. The role centers on keeping deployed autonomous systems operational at customer locations, protecting fleet uptime, driving technical investigations, and serving as the link between customers, field teams, and product engineering. The work spans hardware, software, firmware, and systems integration to resolve issues quickly and improve reliability over time.

Key Responsibilities

You will be expected to act quickly on site issues, support deployments in the field, and strengthen the long-term performance of autonomous platforms.

• Respond quickly to field breakdowns and technical support needs so deployed systems stay available.
• Travel often to customer and deployment locations to diagnose and fix difficult issues; travel is expected to be at least 30%.
• Run cross-functional root cause analyses across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and software areas.
• Implement corrective and preventive actions that reduce repeat failures.
• Help roll out design updates through prototyping, validation, and on-site integration.
• Gather and define technical requirements for field-facing hardware and integration solutions using real failure data and operational needs.
• Strengthen diagnostics and troubleshooting tools so failure modes can be identified and isolated faster, and recommend reliability improvements based on performance trends.
• Carry out preventive, corrective, and predictive maintenance on autonomous systems.
• Provide practical design input to product and hardware teams based on direct field experience.
• Prepare and check documentation such as schematics, drawings, build instructions, and troubleshooting manuals.

Requirements

The ideal candidate is a hands-on problem solver who can work across disciplines and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• You take ownership of unclear problems, act decisively, and focus on getting results.
• You are comfortable working with both physical hardware and software tools, and have experience diagnosing and assembling complex systems, preferably in autonomous vehicles, robotics, or similarly advanced platforms.
• You can troubleshoot across electrical, mechanical, and software layers, and you understand automotive and embedded electronics.
• You have familiarity with communication standards such as Ethernet, CAN, LIN, and 100BASE-T1.
• You are comfortable working in Linux environments and using terminal-based diagnostic tools.
• You have experience using scripting or programming languages such as Python, C++, C, Bash, or ROS.
• You can solve unusual technical problems independently with little supervision.
• You communicate effectively in writing and speaking, and can explain complex firmware or systems issues to customers and internal teams.
• You have a design-oriented mindset and can contribute practical feedback in hardware or systems reviews.

Compensation and Benefits

The listed base salary range for the San Francisco / Silicon Valley market is $140,000 to $170,000 per year. Final starting compensation depends on factors such as location, experience, education, relevant training, skill level, and interview performance. Total compensation also includes equity, bonus opportunities, and a broader benefits package.

• Competitive compensation with equity and annual bonuses
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife, including a medical plan with infertility benefits
• MetLife Legal Services, identity and fraud protection, hospital indemnity insurance, accident insurance, and critical illness insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave
• Office located centrally in Mountain View, California
• Dog-friendly workplace, free catered lunch, fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Long-term disability, short-term disability, and life insurance
• Wellbeing support through Headspace, Calm, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health, and Rula
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter benefits, FSA, dependent care FSA, and HSA
• Incentive programs such as referral bonuses and patent bonuses

Additional Information

Kodiak is committed to equal opportunity employment and maintains a workplace free from harassment and discrimination. The company does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.

For certain sensitive roles, eligibility may depend on additional review requirements, including residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status. If export-control or national-security-related restrictions apply, Kodiak may consider alternative roles when possible or may discontinue the application process at its discretion. Visa sponsorship may be available for eligible candidates.

The company uses a third-party AI tool to assist with initial application screening. Human recruiters make the final hiring decision. Candidates may request a separate review by contacting the company email address provided in the source posting with the specified subject line.