Software Engineer, Performance Engineering Optimization
Aurora Innovation
Listing collected from Aurora Innovation's career site. NextChapter is independent of Aurora Innovation.
Mountain View, CA · Posted October 14, 2026
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Where Mountain View, CA ranks
Where Mountain View, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for AI-skill jobs45% · of 100
- #1Best cities for AI-skill jobs in the West Coast45% · of 71
- #1Best cities for mid-career professionals in the West Coast68% · of 71
- #1Best all-round cities for mid-career professionals in the West Coast85 / 100 · of 39
- #1Best all-round cities for AI careers in the West Coast96 / 100 · of 39
- #2Best cities for finance pay after cost of living$161k · of 35
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing does not state pay. Across 475 open software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $159,500 to $238,500 and the median is $197,500.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
Who we are
Aurora’s mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.
The Aurora Driver https://aurora.tech will create a new era in mobility and logistics, one that will bring a safer, more efficient, and more accessible future to everyone.
At Aurora, you will tackle massively complex problems alongside other passionate, intelligent individuals, growing as an expert while expanding your knowledge. For the latest news from Aurora, visit aurora.tech http://aurora.tech or follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/auroradriver.
What we are looking for
We’re searching for a Software Engineer for our Performance Engineering Optimization (PEO) team.
The PEO team aims to empower Aurorans to reduce onboard software latency & improve hardware utilization by:
- Building production-level tooling & processes to ensure software performs as required.
- Provide for rapid robotic software performance experimentation through data-driven feedback loops.
- Building tooling to discover & diagnose software & hardware performance problems.
- Help autonomy engineers determine the cause and effect relationship between onboard events.
In this role, you will
- Create and contribute to tooling that probes, collects & processes monumental amounts of performance data both on-vehicle & in-simulation.
- Design, build, and maintain robust, cost-effective data pipelines and processing systems that ingest and transform data across sources into our warehouse, supporting downstream tools for performance visualization and analysis
- Collaborate cross functionally with engineers in various domains within Aurora, including Autonomy, Sensing, Vehicle Platform Infrastructure on optimization efforts.
Required Qualifications
- C++ or Python programming and software design skills.
- Knowledge of ETL pipelines.
- Ability to apply statistical and ML methods for data analysis.
- Experience and knowledge of Linux fundamentals.
- BS or MS in Robotics, Computer Science or a related field with 1-3 years of professional experience.
Desirable Qualifications
- Knowledge and interest in cloud storage, cloud based data pipelines.
- Experience in data science and data engineering on cloud platforms.
- Familiarity with Linux OS fundamentals and basic concepts of performance optimization for soft real-time systems.
The base salary range for this position is $116,000 - $174,000 per Year. Aurora’s pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, the successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on factors including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, relevant education or training, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future. The successful candidate will also be eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and benefits.
Working at Aurora
At Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together — all without any jerks.
We believe in-person work increases collaboration, empathy, and our ability to lead effectively. As a result, Aurorans are expected to work from the office at least 3 days per week, with some roles requiring more frequent in-office presence, up to 5 days per week, based on operational needs.
Our Careers page https://aurora.tech/careers provides insight into what it is like to work at Aurora, and you can find all the latest updates in our Newsroom https://aurora.tech/newsroom.
Our commitment to safety
At the core of everything we do is our commitment to safety. Building best-in-class self-driving technology will take time, and we believe that each employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. Aurora expects commitment to our safety policies from every employee, and seeks candidates who take an active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization’s long-term success by prioritizing working safely, no matter what.
Our commitment to inclusion
Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at careersiteaccommodations@aurora.tech.
For California applicants, information collected and processed as part of your application and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Aurora’s California Employment Privacy Policy.