Senior AV Engineer - Simulation and Testing

About the role

Aidoptation develops autonomous driving software for high-speed (120 kph) driving, with a Level 4 autonomy programme tested on public highways. As a startup rooted in autonomous racing, it builds with precision and robustness. In this role you will lead the development of the simulation infrastructure for autonomy and control systems, owning the environments, tooling and workflows that enable high-confidence validation before vehicles go on the road.

Key responsibilities

• Build and maintain SIL and HIL simulation capabilities using VI-grade software (VI-CarRealTime, Vi-Drivesim, Vi-Worldsim) and related tooling, including ROS 2 integration, time synchronization, logging, replay and repeatable execution at scale.
• Ensure the simulation stack is technically rigorous and dependable, used daily for development, regression testing and release readiness.
• Drive model fidelity in dynamics, actuation, delays, sensor characteristics and system failure modes, balancing realism with efficiency and scalability.
• Develop scenario-based evaluation for highway driving and safety-critical manoeuvres, automated parameter sweeps and regression pipelines, and tools to compare simulation with real-world performance.
• Close the sim-to-real loop by comparing simulation outputs with on-vehicle data, measuring gaps with KPIs and dashboards, and improving the stack accordingly.
• Work with autonomy, controls and vehicle integration teams to integrate the simulator, vehicle models, sensor tools and maps into a unified validation workflow, building a digital twin and evaluation pipeline.
• Occasional travel may be required for test campaigns and vehicle validation.

Required profile

• MSc in Mechanical, Robotics, Computer Science or similar with 5+ years of industry experience, or a PhD with 3+ years.
• Right to work in the EU; visa sponsorship is not available.
• Fluent English (Dutch is a plus).
• Startup mentality: shipping tools that unblock teams and speed up iteration.

Required skills

• Strong simulation fundamentals: numerical methods, real-time constraints, validation against real data.
• Experience with VI-grade software (VI-CarRealTime, VI-Drivesim and/or VI-Worldsim) and SIL/HIL workflows.
• Solid Python and C++, focused on tooling, automation and reproducibility.
• Robotics or AV simulation experience (SIL/HIL, scenario-based testing, data replay).
• Linux comfort; ROS 2 is a strong plus.
• Nice to have: 3D simulators (CARLA, Isaac Sim, Gazebo, Unreal, Omniverse), OpenDRIVE/OpenSCENARIO/RoadRunner, CI/CD for simulation, containers, compute clusters, EuroNCAP and NHTSA ADAS testing.