Principal Software Architect

Job description

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 Product Architecture and Safety Teams Our Product Architecture and Safety teams connect Wayve’s core AI Driver with the vehicle platforms that bring autonomous driving technology to customers. Working across Engineering, Product, Safety, Validation and customer programs, we define how our software integrates with OEM and Tier 1 systems, supporting safe, reliable deployment while maintaining a consistent core product architecture. 🧠 Your day-to-day As a Principal Software Architect, you’ll lead the technical architecture for integrating Wayve’s autonomous driving technology with automotive OEM vehicle platforms. You’ll work at the boundary between our core AI Driver and external vehicle systems, translating product ambitions and customer needs into clear interfaces, requirements and technical decisions. Your work will span high-level architecture and implementation details, from sensors and middleware to ECU constraints, timing, diagnostics, safety assumptions, data logging and validation. You’ll bring structure to ambiguous problems, guide architecture work across teams and own key decisions across customer programs. Along the way, you’ll build alignment with engineering, product, safety, validation, program and commercial leaders. 🧩 What you’ll be working on - Defining integration architecture: Shape how Wayve software interfaces with OEM and Tier 1 vehicle systems, balancing customer program needs with the evolution and reusability of our core architecture. - Making ownership explicit: Turn customer and partner discussions into clear interface contracts, ownership boundaries, assumptions, dependencies and open technical decisions, including what is Wayve-owned, partner-owned, jointly defined or out of scope. - Translating needs into requirements: Partner with Product and Engineering to develop actionable technical specifications. Establish a consistent approach to decomposing customer requirements into system and software requirements, including allocation, traceability and change control. - Owning architecture decisions: Lead architecture reviews, maintain decision records and make the final technical call within your scope when consensus cannot be reached. - Planning for successful delivery: Assess feasibility, integration complexity, technical gaps and risks. Identify dependencies and required partner deliverables to support customer program planning. - Building verifiable solutions: Work with Safety and Validation teams to define safety assumptions, integration test requirements and clear evidence that customer requirements have been met. - Representing Wayve with partners: Lead technical discussions with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, supported by clear interface specifications, integration guides, architecture diagrams and decision records. - Leading across teams: Coordinate architects and engineering teams, negotiate competing priorities, resolve or escalate conflicts early, and mentor architects and senior engineers to build a shared architecture culture. 🙌 You should apply if - You bring substantial experience in ADAS, autonomous driving, embedded software or vehicle systems, particularly at the software–vehicle interface. Typically, you’ll have 12+ years of relevant experience, including architecture ownership for a complete product or multiple programs. - You can define clear product boundaries, ownership models and interface contracts between internal software and external vehicle systems. - You understand vehicle electronics and embedded software constraints, including ECU integration, real-time execution, timing, diagnostics and production vehicle software environments. - You’re familiar with automotive communication protocols and electrical/electronic architectures, such as CAN, FlexRay, Automotive Ethernet, SOME/IP or AUTOSAR. - You’ve worked with automotive OEMs or Tier 1 suppliers and can navigate their requirements, standards and integration constraints. - You’ve established and run requirements processes across multiple teams or programs, translating ambiguous needs into clear, traceable and verifiable system and software specifications. - You can move confidently between system-level architecture and implementation details, making sound technical decisions under uncertainty and maintaining consistency as programs evolve. - You’ve led architecture work across teams and influenced senior stakeholders without direct authority, building support and handling competing priorities constructively. - You communicate complex technical ideas clearly through specifications, diagrams and reviews, and enjoy mentoring oth