motion planning jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-09-30, motion planning appears in 314 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — Software Engineer has the most postings mentioning motion planning.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-30
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Frequently asked questions about motion planning
+Is motion planning in demand in 2026?
Yes. motion planning appears in 314 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Software Engineer accounts for the most postings mentioning motion planning (27.7% of all postings mentioning motion planning).
+What jobs require motion planning?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30, among roles with at least 20 postings, the highest shares mentioning motion planning are Robotics Software Engineer (38.1% of that role’s postings mention motion planning), Robotics Engineer (35.2% of that role’s postings mention motion planning), Autonomy Engineer (20.0% of that role’s postings mention motion planning).
+What skills are commonly paired with motion planning?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-30), motion planning most often appears alongside C++, Python, machine learning, computer vision, sensor fusion.
+Where is motion planning most in demand?
As of 2026-09-30, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring motion planning are Mountain View, Costa Mesa, San Francisco, Washington, Munich, according to the Skillenai jobs index.
+How can I keep up with new motion planning content and jobs?
Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning motion planning alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new motion planning content from your Skillenai account.
+Which skills come before and after motion planning?
The skill-flow chart shows skills documented in adjacent positions across observed employer changes. An outgoing skill is documented in the following position but not the preceding one. These are ideas to explore, not proven prerequisites, acquisition dates, or levels of mastery. Each ribbon counts employer moves with that skill pair; one move can contribute several pairs.
Weekly indexed postings requiring motion planning — last 90 days
Salary distribution
Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized
Career paths around motion planning
Skills documented before and after this skill across employer changes.
Historical career profiles · all locations
Skills before motion planning
Skills after motion planning
No published outgoing skill pairs yet.
How to read this chart · view counts
Each side is an independent set of observed employer moves, not the same people followed through three stages. Ribbon widths compare move counts within that side. Internal moves are not included.
The following position documents a skill that the preceding position does not. Skills must be linked to both positions, with clear dates and no overlap. One move can connect several skill pairs. These patterns suggest skills to explore; they do not establish prerequisites, when a skill was learned, or a higher skill level.
Source: Skillenai talent graph, historical career profiles. Historical descriptions and coverage can change. Only the leading published connections are shown.
| Connection | Moves |
|---|---|
| Before: event driven patterns | 1 |
| Before: python | 1 |
| Before: System Testing | 1 |
| Before: electronic billing | 1 |
| Before: MongoDB | 1 |
| Before: Unit testing | 1 |
| Before: User Acceptance Testing (UAT) | 1 |
| Before: JavaScript | 1 |
Roles most likely to require motion planning
Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | % of role postings mentioning skill |
|---|---|---|
| Robotics Software Engineer | 56 | 38.1% |
| Robotics Engineer | 25 | 35.2% |
| Autonomy Engineer | 4 | 20.0% |
| Mission Software Engineer | 7 | 11.1% |
| Technical Lead Manager | 3 | 10.3% |
| Perception Engineer | 1 | 5.0% |
| Computer Vision Engineer | 4 | 4.4% |
| AI Research Scientist | 3 | 3.7% |
| Deep Learning Engineer | 1 | 3.0% |
| Scientist | 1 | 2.5% |
Roles with the most motion planning postings
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | Share of skill postings |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | 87 | 27.7% |
| Robotics Software Engineer | 56 | 17.8% |
| Robotics Engineer | 25 | 8.0% |
| Robotic Systems Engineer | 12 | 3.8% |
| Systems Engineer | 11 | 3.5% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 9 | 2.9% |
| Motion Planning Engineer | 8 | 2.5% |
| Mission Software Engineer | 7 | 2.2% |
| Validation Systems Engineer | 5 | 1.6% |
| Autonomy Engineer | 4 | 1.3% |
Top companies posting jobs requiring motion planning
Employers ranked by indexed job postings in the last 90 days.
| Company | Postings · 90 days |
|---|---|
| Anduril | 32 |
| Waymo | 32 |
| Anduril Industries | 27 |
| Shieldapp | 16 |
| CLERA | 14 |
| Applied Intuition | 9 |
| Tutor Intelligence | 8 |
| Applied | 7 |
| Skydio | 7 |
| Torcrobotics | 6 |
Job postings indexed over the past 90 days, grouped by resolved employer. Counts are postings, not hires. Companies without a published page appear without a link.
Top metros hiring for motion planning
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | 33 | 10.5% |
| Costa Mesa | 27 | 8.6% |
| San Francisco | 18 | 5.7% |
| Washington | 17 | 5.4% |
| Munich | 14 | 4.5% |
| Sunnyvale | 12 | 3.8% |
| Pittsburgh | 10 | 3.2% |
| San Mateo | 10 | 3.2% |
| Boston | 8 | 2.5% |
Skills commonly paired with motion planning
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How this was computed
Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Role prevalence divides postings mentioning motion planning by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s motion planning postings by all motion planning postings, including postings without a role. Shares need not sum to 100% for the displayed roles. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills). An adjusted trend is not shown because comparable posting coverage is insufficient.
- source
- Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
- entity_id
- 39cf74ad85ce7d9c
- data_as_of
- 2026-09-30
- window_days
- 90
The demand, skills, and geo numbers on this page come from the same Skillenai labor market index that powers our API. Use it for compensation benchmarking, hiring-competition analysis, and skill-adoption tracking.
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