About ALSO.
We’re ALSO, an electric mobility company originally conceived as a part of Rivian. We’re a passionate team of builders, dreamers, doers and innovators, focused on creating entirely new (not to mention, innovative and delightful) vertically integrated, small EVs designed to meet the global mobility challenges of today and tomorrow. Our mission is to inspire everyone to ride ALSO—replacing many local car, truck and SUV miles with ones on vehicles that are more affordable, more enjoyable and 10-50x more efficient.
ALSO is building a next-generation electric motorcycle platform, and we are looking for a hands-on Staff Vehicle Controls Engineer to own the entire vehicle controls and software stack from first hardware bring-up to production release.
This is not a management role. You will be the technical owner of the vehicle’s brain — designing, implementing, and validating the control systems that define how the motorcycle behaves.
You will work directly with prototype hardware, writing and deploying real-time embedded software that controls the motor, battery, power electronics, safety systems, and rider features.
The role spans the entire vehicle development lifecycle:
First power-on of new electric hardware
Prototype vehicle bring-up
Control system architecture and feature development
Vehicle testing and tuning
Validation and safety verification
Production-grade software release
We are particularly interested in engineers who embrace AI-accelerated engineering workflows to dramatically increase development velocity, code quality, and validation coverage.
What You Will Do:
You will be responsible for the complete vehicle control stack, including:
Vehicle & Powertrain Controls
Motor torque and speed control
Power electronics and inverter coordination
Regenerative braking control
Energy and battery management strategies
Motor torque/speed, torque arbitration, inverter coordination, regen braking
Throttle/torque mapping, traction and stability, ride modes, thermal/power management, body electronics control
Algorithm design and tuning on vehicles, support vehicle/track testing and debugging, iterate as the platform evolves
Battery Management
State estimation (SoC, SoH, SoP), cell balancing, and host-side BMS algorithms
Battery protections across voltage, current, temperature and isolation, and safe-state behaviour
Pack thermal management and charging control (CC/CV, thermal envelope)
Embedded Software:
Real-time embedded software for the VCU (Vehicle Control Unit), with robust supervisory state machines and fault handling
CAN (Controller Area Network), DBC (Database CAN) management, UDS (Unified Diagnostic Services), and DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code) capture
Vehicle commanding and diagnostic flows for development, manufacturing, and service
Functional safety to ISO 26262: HARA, ASIL decomposition, FMEDA, and safe-state architectures
Modelling, Bring-Up & Validation
MATLAB / Simulink plant and controller modelling
MIL, SIL, HIL - vehicle validation pipeline, dyno and on-vehicle calibration
First power-on, prototype bring-up, hardware integration, and hands-on bench work
Production-quality embedded software delivery with verification processes ensuring robustness, safety, and reliability
AI-Accelerated Engineering
Define workflows that aggressively leverage AI tools across code generation, test coverage, automated documentation, model-assisted control development, and validation acceleration to dramatically increase engineering velocity while maintaining production-grade quality.
What You Will Bring:
Degree qualified with 5+ years in embedded software, vehicle systems, robotics, or connected devices
Strong experience with embedded firmware development
Experience designing complex hardware-integrated software systems
Experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering programs
Strong experience with:
Embedded C/C++ and Real-time embedded systems / RTOS
CAN and vehicle network architectures
Firmware–hardware integration
Control theory and dynamic systems
Hardware debugging and integration
System integration and debugging
Electric powertrain systems and vehicle platforms
Battery Management Systems
Motor control (FOC, inverter control)
Traction or stability control systems
Functional safety (ISO 26262 or equivalent)
HIL / SIL / MIL validation pipelines
Vehicle dynamics and control
Leadership Qualities
Be deeply technical and comfortable contributing to architecture and code
Balance hands-on engineering with delivery leadership
Thrive in startup-scale engineering environments
Build strong relationships with external engineering partners
Drive rapid but disciplined product development
Tools / experience with:
MATLAB / Simulink or similar
CAN communication
Embedded firmware development
Control system modeling and simulation
Benefits
Competitive perks and benefits for every global role
Why ALSO.
We’re passionate about helping the world find a better way to get there—wherever it is you’re headed.
We’re located in the heart of Silicon Valley and have brought together a world-class team from some of the biggest brands in the technology, automotive, cycling, outdoor recreation and retail spaces.
Together we’re working hands-on to imagine, design and build an entirely new solution to a global set of transportation challenges.
