With artificial intelligence (AI) driving the entire world towards a mobility revolution, the autonomous driving industry has found itself right in the centre of it. Not only governments, across the globe, gearing up for it, but also private companies are getting excited about bringing autonomous vehicles to full operation. In that case, these companies will be looking to hire skilled personnel in the autonomous vehicle industries. And, therefore, one can look forward to a challenging but exciting career in the autonomous vehicle industry.

According to Indeed, there has been a rise of 668% of searches for autonomous vehicle-related jobs since 2015. But such an increase in the number of searches does not make it an easy task to get. Although the autonomous vehicle industry has gone through massive development in recent years, it is still a niche job sector relatively, and that’s why it demands a certain degree of specialisation and high-level talent in the employees.

Essential Skills Required For Autonomous Vehicle Industry:

According to data, the following ten skills are the most important when it comes to autonomous vehicle career:

• Python
• C or C++
• Image processing
• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Git
• Java
• Matlab
• Shell script
• Embedded software

Top Autonomous Vehicle Industry Jobs

According to the data from another report, these were the top five jobs in the autonomous vehicle industry.

• Perception Software Engineer
• Strategic Account Manager
• Field Service Technician
• Industrial Engineer
• Customer Success Field Representative

All these jobs’ require a bachelor’s degree as an essential requirement unless you plan to work at Tesla.

Profile #1: Perception Software Engineer

This job role offers the challenge of developing cutting-edge tech and machine learning models for self-driving cars. A self-driving vehicle must be aware of objects, stationary or moving around it, and precisely self navigate around them. This tech relies on a diverse set of sensors like LIDARs, cameras and radars. Companies like Waymo, Tata and others who are in the autonomous vehicle development industry, require researchers and software engineers to know computer vision and machine learning techniques for perception on self-driving cars.

Required Qualifications:

• B. Sc. in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics or other related fields.
• Experience in computer vision and machine learning project (minimum 1+ years)
• C++ and/Python.
• Have experience with ROS, Cuda, TensorFlow, Keras, Open CV, Open CL, Open GL, Matlab and proficiency in Linux operating system.

Average Global Salaries: $48,122 per year for a senior driver to $216,595 per year for owner operator driver.

Profile #2: Strategic Account Manager

The companies need automakers and skilled software engineers in abundance, but these companies also need someone to sell their products. That’s why a strategic account manager is as important as an engineer in the company. An account manager supports the product that a company is about to introduce, in this case, an autonomous vehicle. This account manager will be helping with the developing, defining and executing the strategies which are adapted for gaining profit for the company. Companies like Molex — an electronics manufacturing company, closely associated with Tesla, required substantial customer-facing time and relationship building within a customer organisation, and a strategic account manager working closely with sales, marketing, business unit, cross-functional teams was helpful for the company.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business or technical line.
• 2+ years of sales experience
• Good experience in customer relationship.
• Have good knowledge about the EV and Autonomous car market and automotive ecosystem.
• A thorough understanding of ADAS, cloud connectivity of connected vehicle, and automotive infotainment.

Average Indian Salary: ₹6,51,454/yr

Profile #3: Field Service Technician

A field service technician helps in testing, operating, maintaining and evaluating a self-driving vehicle system. The field service technician reports to the head of the autonomous vehicle operator who is responsible for ensuring and maintaining the safety of the vehicle during operations. The field service technician performs a series of tasks centred around customers like operations and maintenance training, installation supervision, on-site system commissioning, taking customer calls, and acceptance testing.

Required Qualifications:

• Degree in mechanical, electrical or mechanical technician program or equivalent.
• 1+ year experience with electromechanical or mechanical equipment.
• Should have the knowledge of PLC and the ability to troubleshoot it.

Average Global Salary: $232,000 to as much as $405,000

Profile #4: Industrial Engineer

An industrial engineer supervises the process and system for better material flows and development of tools and strategies. Industrial engineer mainly finds out ways to make each process efficient where there is a production involved. Industrial engineers leverage their knowledge of industrial engineering, materials flowing, project management, order fulfilment processes, and WMS for making the process efficient.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, operation research, systems engineering, supply chain management or equivalent.
• 2+ years experience in retail and service parts distribution, supply chain operations, manufacturing or logistics.
• Advanced data mining and analytics skills.
• Must know Excel, SQL, Tableau or/and Python.
• Knowledge of distribution processes, material flow techniques like sequencing, kitting, repack etc.

Average Salary: $82744/yr (Tesla)

Profile #5: Customer Success Field Representative

A customer success field representative is the one who supports customers and collaborates with the sales and marketing teams to facilitate additional sales on highly technical production. This personnel represents the company while maintaining a personal relationship with the customers.

Required Qualifications:

• Any bachelor’s degree, MBA.
• 5-8 years of customer support experience in the tech sector and a highly technical product.
• 3+ years of experience in sales supporting role.
• A good history of developing and successfully implementing scalable solutions to a complicated problem will look attractive on this resume.

Average Salary: Ranging from ₹10 lakh per year to ₹29 lakh per year.