Preparing for an interview at Kodiak requires a balanced approach. You need to demonstrate both deep technical competence and a strong understanding of how your software interacts with physical hardware systems.

To stand out, align your preparation with these key evaluation criteria:

Role-Related Knowledge – You must demonstrate a strong grasp of the specific domain you are interviewing for, whether that is C++, Python, MATLAB/Simulink, functional safety standards, or test automation. Show that you understand the modern tools and best practices of your engineering discipline.

Systems-Level Thinking – Kodiak engineers do not build software in a vacuum. You must show that you understand how your software impacts hardware, sensors, and vehicle dynamics. Be prepared to explain how physical constraints shape your software architecture.

Collaboration & Communication – Because you will work closely with design engineering, reliability scientists, material scientists, quality, and service teams, you must communicate complex technical concepts clearly. Show that you can bridge the gap between software and hardware disciplines.

Safety & Reliability Focus – Every engineer at Kodiak is a safety engineer. You should naturally incorporate concepts of reliability, fail-safes, validation planning, and rigorous testing into all of your technical answers.

The interview process at Kodiak is designed to evaluate your technical skills, your ability to collaborate across disciplines, and your alignment with the company's safety-first culture. The process is rigorous but highly structured, ensuring that you get a clear picture of the team and the technology you will be working with.

You will start with a recruiter screen to discuss your background, interests, and alignment with the role. This is followed by one or two technical phone screens focusing on coding, system design, or domain-specific problem-solving. If you pass these initial stages, you will move on to a comprehensive virtual or onsite loop, where you will meet with multiple members of the engineering, validation, and safety teams.

Throughout the process, the interviewers will look for practical problem-solving skills rather than rote memorization. They want to see how you approach open-ended engineering challenges and how you handle the real-world constraints of autonomous trucking.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression of a candidate through the hiring pipeline. Most candidates complete this entire flow within three to five weeks, depending on scheduling availability. Use this visual guide to pace your preparation, focusing heavily on core technical fundamentals during the screening phases, and system-level integration during the deeper onsite rounds.

To excel in your interviews, you must understand the specific areas where the hiring team will focus their evaluation. Depending on your specialization, you will face deep dives into one or more of the following core domains.

Autonomy Systems & Control Software

This area evaluates your ability to write efficient, reliable, and high-performance software that runs onboard the vehicle. Interviewers want to see that you can write clean code under tight resource constraints.

Be ready to go over:

• C++ and Python proficiency – Object-oriented programming, memory management, and modern language features.
• Real-time constraints – Managing latency, task scheduling, and avoiding execution bottlenecks in the main autonomy loop.
• Sensor integration – Processing and synchronizing data from cameras, LiDAR, radar, and GPS/IMU systems.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Custom GPU kernel development, RTOS kernel tuning, and deterministic execution frameworks.

Example scenarios:

• "Design a software module to synchronize incoming camera frames with high-frequency IMU data."
• "Write a clean, optimized algorithm to filter out noisy point cloud data from a LiDAR sensor in real-time."

Test Automation, Instrumentation & Validation

For roles focused on validation, manufacturing, or hardware-software integration, this is the most critical evaluation area. You must prove you can bridge the gap between physical hardware and automated software testing.

Be ready to go over:

• Test equipment design – Selecting sensors, actuators, and data acquisition (DAQ) hardware to test physical systems.
• Thermal, mechanical, and electrical testing – Designing test setups to validate components under extreme environmental conditions.
• DVP&R generation – Creating comprehensive Design Validation Plans and Research frameworks to track testing coverage.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Building automated hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test beds, writing custom drivers for lab instruments, and environmental chamber test profile design.

Example scenarios:

• "How would you design and automate a test rig to validate the thermal performance of an onboard computer housing under heavy computational load?"
• "Walk through the process of generating a design validation test plan for a newly designed camera mount to ensure it tolerates highway vibrations."

Functional Safety & Systems Engineering

This area evaluates your understanding of safety standards and your ability to design architectures that prevent catastrophic failures.

Be ready to go over:

• ISO 26262 compliance – Understanding safety lifecycles, ASIL ratings, and functional safety concepts.
• Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA) – Identifying potential hazards and defining safety goals.
• Redundancy and fail-safes – Designing architectures with redundant power, communication, and processing paths.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Formal verification methods, diagnostic coverage analysis, and software safety analysis (e.g., FMEA, FTA).

Example scenarios:

• "Perform a functional safety analysis on the steering control software. What are the hazard events, and how do you mitigate them?"
• "How would you design a software diagnostic system to detect and report memory corruption in a safety-critical micro-controller?"

As a Software Engineer at Kodiak, your day-to-day responsibilities will vary depending on your specific team, but they will center around building highly reliable systems for the physical world.

You will write, test, and deploy software that runs onboard the truck, in the cloud, or on automated test fixtures. This includes implementing algorithms for perception, planning, or control, as well as developing the tooling and infrastructure that allows Kodiak to scale its fleet safely.

A significant portion of your role will involve cross-functional collaboration. You will work side-by-side with hardware engineers to define software-hardware interfaces, with validation engineers to write test plans, and with safety specialists to ensure compliance with industry standards.

You will also spend time analyzing real-world drive data. When the truck encounters an unexpected scenario on the road, you will dive into the logs, identify the root cause, write a fix, and validate it using automated simulation pipelines before deploying it back to the fleet.

Kodiak looks for engineers who possess a strong foundation in computer science or engineering, combined with practical experience in robotics, automotive, aerospace, or other safety-critical industries.

• Must-have skills – Strong programming skills in C++ or Python; experience with Linux development environments; a solid understanding of software engineering best practices (version control, unit testing, code reviews); and a safety-first mindset.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience with ROS/ROS2, MATLAB/Simulink, ISO 26262, CAN/automotive communication protocols, or hands-on experience with hardware instrumentation and data acquisition systems.

Depending on the specific team, the background requirements will adjust:

• Autonomy & Perception teams require deep knowledge of computer vision, sensor fusion, or machine learning frameworks.
• Controls teams require a strong background in control theory, vehicle dynamics, and MATLAB-based development.
• Validation & Hardware Quality teams require experience designing test equipment, working with lab instruments, and creating validation test plans for mechanical, thermal, and electrical systems.

Q: How much hardware knowledge do I need for a Software Engineer role? A: It depends on the team, but some level of hardware empathy is required for all roles. Even if you write pure autonomy software, you must understand how physical constraints like sensor latency, vehicle dynamics, and environmental noise affect your code.

Q: What is the work culture like at Kodiak? A: The culture is highly collaborative, fast-paced, and transparent. Teams are small and cross-functional, meaning you will have high ownership over your projects and work directly with experts in hardware, safety, and operations.

Q: How does Kodiak approach remote and hybrid work? A: Because Kodiak builds physical trucks and hardware-in-the-loop test setups, many engineering roles require a hybrid or on-site presence at our offices in Mountain View, CA, San Francisco, CA, or Dallas, TX. This allows close collaboration with the physical vehicles and test equipment.

Q: What is the typical interview preparation time? A: Most successful candidates spend two to three weeks preparing. Focus on brushing up on your core programming language (C++ or Python), reviewing system design principles, and practicing behavioral questions that highlight your cross-functional collaboration and safety mindset.

To maximize your chances of success during the Kodiak interview process, keep these practical tips in mind:

• Focus on the "Why": When explaining your past projects, don't just describe what you built. Explain why you chose that specific architecture, what trade-offs you made, and how you validated that it worked safely.
• Emphasize Testing: Whether you are writing a simple coding exercise or designing a complex system, always talk about how you would test your solution. Proactively mention edge cases, unit tests, and integration testing.

• Show Cross-Functional Respect: Highlight experiences where you successfully worked with non-software teams. Showing that you value the input of hardware designers, technicians, and safety managers is a major plus.

• Brush up on Physics: If you are interviewing for controls, validation, or systems roles, review basic physics concepts related to heat transfer, mechanics, and electrical circuits.

Joining Kodiak as a Software Engineer is an opportunity to work on one of the most challenging and meaningful engineering problems of our generation. By building the software that drives autonomous trucks, you will directly shape the future of transportation, logistics, and road safety.

To prepare effectively, focus your energy on demonstrating strong technical fundamentals, a deep appreciation for hardware-software integration, and an unwavering commitment to safety. Treat the interviewers as future colleagues, and approach the technical challenges with curiosity, structured thinking, and a collaborative spirit.

The compensation data above represents the base salary ranges across several Software Engineer disciplines at Kodiak, spanning validation, safety, perception, controls, and systems engineering. When preparing your offer expectations, consider how your specific domain expertise and seniority align with these competitive ranges. You can explore additional interview insights, company reviews, and preparation resources on Dataford to help you put your best foot forward. Good luck with your preparation!