Android Software Developer

Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America is seeking an Android Software Developer (onsite in San Jose, CA) to build and validate Android-based software for the Mercedes-Benz Intelligence Platform. This role supports next-generation, AI-powered in-vehicle experiences, bringing conversational voice AI and multimodal AI together across onboard and cloud environments.

What you will do

• Design, develop, test, and maintain Android-based applications, services, and software components for the Intelligence Platform.
• Develop and integrate AI-powered features using LLMs, speech and audio models, and multimodal AI technologies.
• Integrate AI models and inference services across onboard and cloud environments, including interfaces between Android applications, AI inference engines, vehicle systems, and backend services.
• Build conversational voice AI experiences by integrating speech recognition, audio processing, LLMs, and other AI capabilities.
• Contribute to multimodal experiences combining voice, text, visual information, and vehicle context.
• Support physical AI use cases by integrating vehicle signals and contextual data to enable more context-aware and proactive in-vehicle behavior.
• Develop and integrate software using Android Automotive OS, Android frameworks, system services, and vehicle-specific interfaces.
• Partner with AI/ML engineers to integrate, evaluate, and optimize models for in-vehicle use cases, focusing on performance, latency, reliability, and resource utilization.
• Participate in the full software development lifecycle: requirements analysis, design, implementation, unit testing, integration, validation, release, and post-launch support.
• Optimize Android software and AI workloads for automotive compute platforms across CPU, GPU, NPU, memory, storage, power, startup time, and response latency.
• Collaborate with hardware, platform, and AI/ML teams to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize model execution on target hardware.
• Debug complex integration issues across development environments, test benches, and vehicles, including root-cause analysis.
• Create automated unit and integration tests, and contribute to CI/CD, continuous testing, and software release processes.
• Contribute to code reviews and support software architecture, maintainability, reliability, and engineering best practices.
• Contribute to Automotive SPICE activities, including requirements management, traceability, verification, validation, and technical documentation.
• Work with global cross-functional teams across AI/ML, UX, Product Management, Engineering, Platform, and Research.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 3+ years of professional software development experience, preferably in Android, embedded systems, automotive software, or related product development.
• Strong programming skills in Kotlin, with experience building production-quality Android software.
• Experience developing, integrating, or delivering software based on Android or Android Automotive OS, including applications, services, frameworks, or platform components.
• Solid understanding of Android architecture, application lifecycle, system services, inter-process communication, and platform APIs.
• Experience integrating AI-powered applications, models, or services such as LLMs, speech recognition, conversational AI, audio AI, or multimodal AI.
• Understanding of AI inference and model integration concepts, including model inputs/outputs, APIs, context management, performance/latency, and resource constraints.
• Experience integrating applications with backend services, APIs, AI inference services, or distributed systems.
• Hands-on experience with Linux-based embedded systems and software development environments.
• Experience with Android development tools and technologies including Android SDK, Android Studio, Gradle, ADB, and Git.
• Strong understanding of software design principles, object-oriented programming, data structures, and common software design patterns.
• Experience debugging and profiling software, with systematic root-cause analysis for application, platform, or system-level issues.
• Understanding of performance optimization on embedded platforms across CPU/GPU/NPU, memory, latency, and other resource-constrained factors.
• Experience developing unit and integration tests and familiarity with automated software testing.
• Experience working in Agile environments, including familiarity with CI/CD and continuous software integration.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, suppliers, and global development partners.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience integrating LLMs, speech/audio models, VLMs, or multimodal AI models into production applications.
• Familiarity with AI inference frameworks, runtimes, model optimization, quantization, or edge AI deployment.
• Familiarity with automotive software architectures and vehicle interfaces such as Vehicle HAL (VHAL).
• Experience working with globally distributed engineering teams on production software.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families
• 401(k) with employer match
• Up to 15 company-paid holidays
• Paid time off (flexible time off for salaried employees), sick time, and parental leave
• Tuition assistance program
• Wellness/Fitness reimbursement programs

Salary range

USD 118,200 - 147,700 per year. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on a wide range of factors.

Export control notice

This position may involve access to export-controlled technology, hardware, or software under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), 15 C.F.R. Parts 730-774 and possibly technical data, defense articles and defense services subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130. Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America may be required to obtain an export license or authorization in accordance with United States law.