ML Engineer, Waymo
Foundation Model Infrastructure
$175-215k
+ Equity +Discretionary annual bonus program
Office located in Mountain View, CA
Autonomous driving technology
Open for applications
Autonomous driving technology
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$175-215k
+ Equity +Discretionary annual bonus program
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
- Masters degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, similar technical field of study, or equivalent practical experience
- Proficiency in Python
- Proficiency in C++
- Familiarity with one of the modern deep learning frameworks (e.g. Pytorch, JAX, Tensorflow)
- Experience building or maintaining large-scale data pipelines or ML infrastructure (e.g., Flume, Spark, Borg, Kubeflow)
Desirable
- Strong hands-on SWE skills, able to drive development of large, complex shared codebases
- Experience in AV planning and related research
- Experience designing and building distributed systems or MLOps platforms (e.g., model versioning, experiment tracking, CI/CD for ML)
- Prior work in an industrial or research setting developing methodologies for the evaluation of ML models
What the job involves
- The mission of the Waymo AI Foundations team is to develop machine learning solutions addressing open problems in autonomous driving, towards the goal of safely operating Waymo vehicles in dozens of cities and under all driving conditions
- As part of our work, we also initiate and foster collaborations with other research teams in Alphabet
- AI Foundations areas that we are currently focusing on include reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, generative modeling, Bayesian inference, hierarchical learning, and robust evaluation
- In this hybrid role, you will report to a Senior Research Scientist
- Build and operate the petabyte-scale data systems and ML pipelines at the heart of Waymo's foundation model development
- Shepherd cutting-edge foundation models from research prototypes to robust components within the Waymo Driver
- Create the automated infrastructure for rigorously benchmarking, continuously monitoring, and safely releasing models
- Wield large-scale compute and frameworks like Flume and JAX to process massive datasets and train/deploy complex models
- Drive significant leaps in the speed, reliability, and efficiency of the end-to-end ML development lifecycle
- Partner with AI Foundations, ML, and Platform experts to transform model innovations into tangible on-road improvements
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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