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Systems Engineer – Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Hardware & Integration

  • Location: Charlottesville, VA (on-site) 

  • Department: Engineering 

  • Reports To: GM/VP Automated Transit

  • Employment Type: Full-Time

About the Role

Perrone Robotics is looking for a hands-on Systems Engineer, based out of our Charlottesville, VA office, to own the hardware, sensor, connectivity, and safety-critical systems behind our TONY AV Kit deployments across transit and government partners nationwide. This role sits at the intersection of hardware integration, software/DevOps support, and technical documentation: supporting deployed vehicles, validating safety-critical systems, supporting software builds and data pipelines alongside our SW engineering team, and building the SOPs and documentation that let PRI and its outfitting partners scale installs reliably.

What You'll Do

  • Sensor systems: Support LiDAR (Ouster, Livox) and RADAR deployed vehicles, including firmware version management, configuration review, and direct escalation to vendor technical support (e.g., filing and managing Ouster support cases).

  • Safety-critical validation: Own fail-safe testing on modules. Produce formal pass/fail QA reports for safety-critical findings.

  • Connectivity & telematics: Manage cellular/networking hardware, including firmware updates, signal testing across major cellular carriers, SIM provisioning and carrier-side troubleshooting, and RTK/GPS subscription administration.

  • Test infrastructure: Design and build field test fixtures (e.g., mobile rolling LiDAR/RADAR test carts) to enable fast, isolated sensor diagnostics independent of full vehicle wiring, helping distinguish hardware, wiring, and software root causes.

  • Documentation: Author and maintain installation SOPs, BOMs, wiring diagrams, and assembly diagrams so third-party outfitters (e.g., van/bus upfitters) can execute installs to spec with minimal hand-holding.

  • New hardware rollouts: Support features from concept through install documentation, including dual motor/steering redundancy, remote start/stop systems, and module mounting and installation.

  • Fleet testing cadence: Execute recurring engineering test cycles across deployed vehicles, log findings, and track defects to closure in coordination with software engineering and QA.

  • Data collection & pipelines: Manage end-of-day ADAS/AV data collection workflows (onboard tablet log capture, upload tooling) and ensure mission/log data reliably reaches cloud storage (e.g., AWS S3) for the software team to analyze.

  • DevOps / software deployment & production support: Deploy, configure, and update mission software, firmware, and profiles on vehicle compute hardware; support production rollout of software releases across the fleet.

Experience Levels

This role is open at multiple levels. Where you land depends on your background.

Required Skills & Experience

  • Hands-on experience with vehicle electrical/electronic systems, mobile robotics, or automotive/heavy-vehicle hardware integration.

  • Practical experience with LiDAR and/or RADAR sensors, including installation, calibration, firmware management, and fault diagnosis (Ouster and/or Livox experience a strong plus).

  • Experience with motor controllers/actuator systems

  • Working knowledge of vehicle networking and diagnostic interfaces (Ethernet/UDP, CAN, Modbus, USB-based configuration tools).

  • Experience with cellular/networking hardware and carrier-side troubleshooting (SIM provisioning, signal diagnostics, firmware).

  • Strong technical writing skills, comfortable producing SOPs, BOMs, and wiring/assembly diagrams for non-expert audiences.

  • Comfortable collaborating closely with software engineers, reproducing bugs, interpreting logs, and providing the field/hardware context needed to root-cause issues.

  • Basic scripting/command-line comfort (e.g., shell, Python) sufficient to support data collection tooling, log uploads, and software/firmware deployment to vehicle hardware.

  • Methodical, safety-first troubleshooting mindset with clear, timely written status updates and effective vendor-support escalation.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience in autonomous vehicle (AV) or ADAS deployment, particularly transit/bus applications.

  • Familiarity with government/transit contracting environments and formal QA/safety documentation processes.

  • Experience supporting multiple concurrent deployment sites/customers.

  • Exposure to DevOps practices or production software support (deployment tooling, cloud storage/data pipelines, release/version management) in a hardware-adjacent environment.

  • Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Automotive Technology, or equivalent hands-on field experience.

  • Able to travel occasionally (roughly 10% of the time) to support field deployments.

What Success Looks Like

  • Hardware issues are diagnosed quickly and accurately, with clear documentation and appropriate vendor engagement.

  • Safety-critical systems are verified and documented to a rigorous, repeatable standard.

  • Installation documentation is complete enough that outfitting partners can execute builds with minimal PRI oversight.

  • Fleet-wide test cycles run on schedule with defects tracked transparently to closure.

  • Software/firmware deployments to the fleet go smoothly, with data collection pipelines running reliably and production issues resolved quickly in partnership with SW engineering.