1) Staffing agency call - I was reached out to by a sourcer from Pace Engineering Recruiters in May 2021 on LinkedIn. Follwing the LinkedIn chat, he forwarded my resume to TuSimple hiring team to start the official process.
2) Recruiter call - Had a call with TuSimple Recruiter Kristen Siderius where she went over the role in detail and explained the interview process.
3) Phone Screen - Had first round with Director of Product and VP of Systems Engineering & Test where I was tested on my bredth of knowledge in Perception domain and evaluation of ML/DL systems, in addition to standard resume discussion.
4) Panel Interview - Following positive response from the phone interview, Kristen set up virtual on-site interviews that consisted of 4 rounds focusing on a) Perception Deep Learning Depth b) Software Development (C++ specific) c) Perception Systems bredth and d) Safety and Systems Engineering
5) Follow up - I did all the interview rounds well except the Systems Engg. and Safety round. So Kristen set up a follow up round to assess that specific aspect with the VP of Systems Engineering.
6) Feedback call - Kristen called me a couple of days later to tell me that they are ready to proceed to the offer stage and that I can expect a call within a week.
7) Offer call - Approx a week later, Kristen called me with the offer details. She was able to get what I asked for in total compensation. The TC is good for remote work from Pittsburgh, in general and right around the median for a Staff level role if we consider the other AD companies in Pittsbugh (Argo AI, Motional, Waymo etc.)
Overall it was a pleasant and positive experience. All the interviewers were very well experienced and did not put unnecessary pressure.
The recruiter, Kristen, was very accessible and usually reponded in matter of minutes to all the emails. She answered all my questions in detail that aided in targeted preparation for the specific rounds. She was very supportive throughout the process.
Only part I did not appreciate about the whole process was the limited time window I was given to to accept the offer. I was given only 2 days and no room to negotiate (take it or leave it). I guess it's partly my fault that I did not push back on the deadline but I feel that a company should offer atleast a week to consider the offer in detail. There are many aspects to a job offer that one needs to consider and two weekdays is not enough.