Principal Maps & Localization Engineer (Autonomous Vehicle)

Company Description

About Grab and Our Workplace

Grab is Southeast Asia's leading superapp. From getting your favourite meals delivered to helping you manage your finances and getting around town hassle-free, we've got your back with everything. In Grab, purpose gives us joy and habits build excellence, while harnessing the power of Technology and AI to deliver the mission of driving Southeast Asia forward by economically empowering everyone, with heart, hunger, honour, and humility.

Job Description

lead

Get to Know the Team

Our team develops production-grade robotics and autonomy capabilities for the uniquely complex, unstructured urban environments of Southeast Asia. We are ambitious and pragmatic: advancing perception, planning, and control step by step, with safety evidence as the gate for every milestone. We focus on building robust system capabilities, scaling with uncompromised quality, and collaborating with industry leaders while investing in in-house expertise where it differentiates us.

Get to Know the Role

As the Principal Maps & Localization Engineer, you will be the technical anchor for mapping and localization. You will architect, design, and deliver the systems that provide our vehicles with a precise, reliable, and updated understanding of where they are in complex urban environments. This is a hands-on role with broad ownership, setting the standards for localization accuracy, robustness, and scalability while driving the development of production-grade mapping pipelines.

You will report to the Head of Engineering and will contribute directly to both technical and strategic leadership. This is a fully onsite role at Grab Singapore's One North office.

The Critical Tasks You Will Perform

Mapping Pipeline & Infrastructure

• Architect and lead the end-to-end pipeline for creating high-definition (HD) maps, from raw survey data ingestion to fleet-wide map distribution.
• Build large-scale SLAM development to produce consistent, high-accuracy 3D point clouds at production scale.
• Fuse LiDAR/camera/IMU/GNSS data to build semantically rich, geo-referenced HD maps with measurable quality targets.
• Develop systems for map change detection, validation, and updates to ensure our maps reflect the real world in urban environments.

Real-Time Localization & State Estimation

• Design and implement the on-vehicle localization system, fusing data from multiple sensors (GNSS, IMU, LiDAR, cameras, odometry) to deliver a precise, real-time vehicle state.
• Develop advanced state estimation filters (e.g., Kalman filters, factor graphs) to ensure localization is robust and reliable, especially in challenging GPS-denied areas like tunnels and urban canyons.
• Define and monitor main performance metrics for localization, including accuracy, availability, integrity, and latency.

Mentorship & Collaboration

• Guide the technical vision and roadmap for all mapping and localization efforts.
• Partner with technical leaders in Perception, Planning and the Grab Geo teams, providing the foundational context of "where we are" that enables all other departments.
• Mentor other engineers, elevating the team's expertise in state estimation, computer vision, and large-scale geometry.

Qualifications

What Essential Skills You Will Need

Essential Skills

• 8+ years of experience designing, building, and shipping production-grade mapping and localization systems for complex mobile robots.
• Expert-level proficiency in modern C++ (C++17+) for real-time, on-device applications and proficiency in Python for offline pipelines and data analysis.
• Deep theoretical and practical knowledge in state estimation (e.g., Kalman Filters, Particle Filters, Factor Graphs) and sensor fusion for multi-sensor systems (IMU, GNSS, LiDAR).
• Background in 3D geometry, computer vision, and point cloud processing techniques (e.g., SLAM, ICP, and sensor calibration).
• Demonstrated leadership in the architecture and design of complex, and large-scale software systems.
• Bachelor's Degree in CS, EE, Robotics, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with large-scale distributed systems and cloud computing for processing massive mapping datasets.
• Deep expertise in advanced GNSS (e.g., RTK, PPP) and IMU error modeling.
• Experience with map data formats, tiling strategies, and services for scalable map distribution.
• Knowledge of safety-critical systems and localization integrity monitoring.
• Publications or patents in top-tier robotics or computer vision venues (e.g., ICRA, IROS, RSS, CVPR).

Additional Information

Life at Grab

We care about your well-being at Grab, here are some of the global benefits we offer:

• We have your back with Term Life Insurance and comprehensive Medical Insurance.
• With GrabFlex, create a benefits package that suits your needs and aspirations.
• Celebrate moments that matter in life with loved ones through Parental and Birthday leave, and give back to your communities through Love-all-Serve-all (LASA) volunteering leave
• We have a confidential Grabber Assistance Programme to guide and uplift you and your loved ones through life's challenges.
• Balancing personal commitments and life's demands are made easier with our FlexWork arrangements such as differentiated hours

What We Stand For at Grab

We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace that enables diverse Grabbers to grow and perform at their best. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all candidates fairly and equally regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, family commitments, physical and mental impairments or disabilities, and other attributes that make them unique.