Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Waymo
Tech Lead, Labeling Automation
$251-310k
Offers annual bonus program and equity incentive plan
Office located in Mountain View, CA
Autonomous driving technology
Open for applications
Autonomous driving technology
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$251-310k
Offers annual bonus program and equity incentive plan
Office located in Mountain View, CA
1001+ employees
Company mission
To make it simpler and safer for people to move things and themselves around.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years of professional experience in the field of software engineering and applied machine learning
- Experience programming in C++ or Python
- Experience building, evaluating, and deploying deep learning models for object detection, segmentation, and spatial tracking
- Experience in large model training, distributed computing, and scaling deep learning architectures using frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Experience taking machine learning solutions through the entire lifecycle—from research and experimentation to robust, scaled production deployment
- Experience building internal tooling for ML developers
What the job involves
- As a Staff Software Engineer (L6) on the Labeling Team, you will lead the technical strategy for automating our data pipelines. You will build cutting-edge auto-labeling systems to drastically scale our throughput and develop intelligent auto-graders to guarantee exceptional data quality
- This is a high-impact leadership role where you will train, deploy, and orchestrate state-of-the-art computer vision architectures and Vision-Language Models (VLMs) to solve complex semantic labeling challenges across our massive autonomous driving fleet
- You will report to a Technical lead Manager, Staff Software Engineer
- Architect and Scale Auto-Labeling: Lead the design and deployment of highly scalable auto-labeling pipelines that significantly improve data throughput and reduce our reliance on manual annotation bottlenecks
- Build Robust Auto-Graders: Develop automated anomaly detection and quality evaluation systems (auto-graders) to assess annotation accuracy, detect regressions, and enforce rigorous quality standards across millions of labels
- Train & Deploy SOTA Computer Vision Models: Train, optimize, and push into production advanced 2D and 3D computer vision models. You will utilize architectures ranging from foundational zero-shot models like SAM (Segment Anything Model) and efficient real-time detectors like YOLO, to bespoke 3D perception and tracking models
- Leverage Vision-Language Models (VLMs): Fine-tune, and deploy large VLMs and LLMs, utilizing prompt optimization and advanced post-training techniques (SFT, RL, etc.), to solve complex, open-set labeling and contextual reasoning tasks
- Drive Technical Direction: Act as a technical pillar for the Labeling organization. Set the long-term ML strategy, guide architectural decisions, and mentor senior and mid-level engineers
- Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Work closely with Perception, Planner, and Simulation teams to align labeling capabilities with the evolving ML data needs of the Waymo Driver
Our take
Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car company, is changing the way people get around. Its robotaxis, which don't need a human driver, are already operating in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. Soon, Waymo will expand to Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego, showing just how autonomous cars are moving from experiments to real-world transportation.
The company has already completed over 10M fully driverless rides and driven more than 100M miles. Its cars use advanced sensors and AI to navigate streets safely, while partnerships with Uber and DoorDash show that Waymo's technology works for both passengers and deliveries. And it's feeling ambitious too, hoping to offer one million trips per week by the end of 2026.
Even with competitors like Tesla and Zoox, Waymo is leading the autonomous ride-hailing market. Its cars have fewer crashes and keep passengers safer than traditional vehicles. With international plans for London and Japan, Waymo isn't just growing in the US; it's setting its sights on shaping the future of transportation worldwide.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-1% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Feb 2026
$16bn
LATE VC
Aug 2024
$5.6bn
SERIES C
Total funding: $27.1bn
Company benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents
- Employee assistance programs focused on mental health
- Personalized workplace adjustments for diverse needs and abilities, including physical, mental, and neurodivergent considerations
- Access to mental health apps
- Onsite wellness centers
- Second medical opinion for you and your loved ones
- Medical advocacy program for transgender employees
- Counseling services
- Support programs including menopause benefit
- Competitive compensation
- Regular bonus and equity performance grant opportunities
- Generous 401(k) and regional retirement plans
- Annual cross-company compensation review and pay equity analysis
- 1-on-1 financial coaching
- Fertility and growing family assistance
- Parental leave and baby bonding leave
- Caregiver leave
- Elder care and support
- Backup childcare
- Survivor income benefit
- Paid time off, including vacation, bereavement, sick leave, parental leave, disability, and holidays
- Jury duty leave
- Military leave
- Hybrid work model with remote work opportunities also available
- Educational reimbursement
- Peer learning and coaching platform
- Donation matching programs
- Employee resource groups
- Volunteer hours
- Internal community groups and local culture clubs
- Inspiring spaces to work, recharge, and collaborate with fellow Waymonauts
- On-site meals and snacks
- Fitness centers, massage programs, and ergonomic support
- On-demand fitness, wellbeing, and cooking classes
- Commuter benefits
Company HQ
Mountain View, CA
Leadership
Dmitri Dolgov
(Co-CEO)Dmitri joined Waymo in 2016 as CTO, becoming Co-CEO in 2021. Prior to this, he spent nearly 8 years at Google as a Distinguished Software Engineer and 2 years at Toyota Research Institute as a Senior Research Scientist.
Tekedra N. Mawakana
(Co-CEO)Tekedra joined Waymo in 2017 as the Global Head of Policy, holding various roles before becoming Co-CEO in 2021. Previously, she was the VP of Global Government Relations and Public Policy at eBay and VP and Deputy General Counsel of GLobal Public Policy at Yahoo.
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