Strategic Partnership Manager, Wayve
Autonomous mobility driven by AI
Job no longer available
Autonomous mobility driven by AI
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To reimagine autonomous mobility with embodies intelligence, aiming to lead the world into a new era of autonomy.
Role
Who you are
- 7+ years experience working on automotive OEM procurement and strategic partnership deals (either on OEM or supplier side), with a particular emphasis on complex integrated solutions, silicon, sensors, and software
- Experience with first-of-kind deals with fast-evolving, cutting-edge technologies
- Strong understanding of the OEM sourcing, procurement, and strategic partnership negotiating playbook, with a nuanced judgment about the realistic bargaining range across a variety of deal points
- Thorough familiarity with major OEM-supplier deal structures on issues such as licensing, payment, rev share, bonus, earn-out, NRE, IP, warranties, risk allocation, termination, exclusivity, governance, dispute resolution, etc
- Deep expertise of the global ADAS/AD market, understanding the opportunities and challenges faced by potential customers
- Strong technical understanding of both artificial intelligence and driving automation systems
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and an ability to explain complex matters in clear, accessible language
- Comfortable managing through ambiguity and making decisions with imperfect information
- Strategic thinker with strong commercial/business acumen and judgment
- Strong emotional intelligence and ability to collaborate with counterparts across teams, time zones, and business cultures
- Great colleague - open, optimistic, humble, and non-political team player
What the job involves
- We’re looking for an experienced Strategic Partnership Manager to negotiate and execute advanced development programs and series production agreements with major global automakers and Tier 1s, working with cross-functional teams across the organization
- Structure, negotiate, draft, close, and manage commercial agreements with global automakers and Tier 1 suppliers for integration of Wayve’s driving automation software
- Aggressively manage diverse and constantly evolving deal pipeline, leveraging Wayve’s demonstrated leadership in E2E AI to build demand and maximize negotiation leverage
- Bring creative, solutions-oriented mindset to complex and challenging negotiation points, navigating deals to a timely closure
- Cultivate strong, trusted relationships with cross-functional counterparts throughout the organization including Product, Software, Science, Finance, Policy, and Legal, and maintain regular communications as opportunities move through the funnel
- Perform financial modeling and analysis of various pricing strategies to understand the long-term revenue implications of different deal structures
- Stay abreast of the developing regulatory frameworks governing automated driving and understand how they impact commercialization opportunities in different regions
- Represent Wayve thought leadership at industry events
Our take
Wayve is developing AI that teaches cars to drive autonomously using reinforcement learning, simulation, and computer vision. Wayve’s core premise is that the big breakthrough in self-driving cars will come from better AI brains rather than more sensors or “hand-coded” rules which it believes are highly restrictive and not at all scalable.
The company said that it trains its autonomous driving system using simulated environments and then transfers that knowledge into the real world, where it emulates how humans adapt to conditions in real time. It ultimately relies on end-to-end deep learning AI rather than hard-engineered AI. This is one of the world's hardest problems to solve, but Wayve has made an exciting start and is taking a very different approach to competitors like Uber and Waymo, who are relying more on sensors.
Following a few years of innovative breakthroughs, Wayve now has backing from high-profile investors such as Microsoft and angels, including Uber's chief scientist Zoubin Ghahramani and Pieter Abbeel, a UC Berkeley robotics professor and pioneer of deep reinforcement learning. The company's strategic partnerships with outfits like Asda and Ocado to test-run autonomous deliveries, as well as publicity through the Minister is a show of confidence in the future of Wayve's solution to autonomous driving.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Feb 2026
$1.2bn
SERIES D
May 2024
$1.1bn
SERIES C
Total funding: $2.5bn
Company benefits
- Private healthcare: Choose our optional health insurance for comprehensive coverage for you and your family.
- Paid time off: Paid vacation plus public holidays and additional leave programs, ensuring you have time to unwind.
- Mental health resources: Through Spill, you can access therapy and mental health support.
- Community and socials: Join clubs or attend team socials to connect over hobbies, sports, or just for fun.
- Competitive compensation: Our compensation package includes cash and equity, making you a true partner in our success.
- Learning and development: Budgets for books, courses, and company-wide training to support your continuous growth.
Company HQ
London, UK
Leadership
Alex Kendall
(Co-Founder & CEO)Alex has a PhD from Cambridge in Computer Vision & Robotics. Prior to Wayve, he was a Research Fellow at Trinity College, a Scientific Advisor at Scape Technologies, a Research Engineer at Skydio, and a Software Engineer at Beca.
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