2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Software/ML Engineer, Simulation

Waymo LLC; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 96,000 - 117,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Housing/relocation bonus

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Free meals and snacks

Shuttle service

Onsite gym

Job summary

Waymo LLC in Mountain View, CA seeks a technically talented intern/full-time candidate to design data pipelines and ML workflows for autonomous driving research. The role emphasizes Python or C++ expertise, data analysis, and building robust datasets to improve perception and decision systems.

The position blends hands-on software engineering with cutting-edge research in Vision-Language Models and sensor data processing, offering comprehensive benefits and a hybrid onsite work arrangement.

Qualifications

• Pursuing MS or PhD in a quantitative/technical field (CS, Robotics, ML, or related).
• Strong programming skills in Python or C++.
• Experience with data analysis, SQL, and basic statistics.

Responsibilities

• Design and build multimodal data pipelines in Python or C++ that combine vehicle sensor data (camera, LiDAR) and 3D map data for machine learning models.
• Prototype and iterate on Vision-Language Model workflows to automatically detect and categorize real-world driving scenarios and road changes.
• Build ground-truth evaluation datasets, measure model precision and recall, and systematically improve detection accuracy.
• Integrate automated labeling pipelines into data storage and simulation testing workflows.

Skills

Python

C++

Data analysis

SQL

Statistics

Education

MS or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, or related

Job description

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

Software Engineering builds the brains of Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology. Our software allows the Waymo Driver to perceive the world around it, make the right decision for every situation, and deliver people safely to their destinations. We think deeply and solve complex technical challenges in areas like robotics, perception, decision-making and deep learning, while collaborating with hardware and systems engineers. If you’re a software engineer or researcher who’s curious and passionate about Level 4 autonomous driving, we'd like to meet you.

Waymo interns partner with leaders in the industry on projects that create impact to the company. We believe learning is a two-way street: applying your knowledge while providing you with opportunities to expand your skill-set. Interns are an important part of our culture and our recruiting pipeline. Join us at Waymo for a fun and rewarding internship!

You Will

• Design and build multimodal data pipelines in Python or C++ that combine vehicle sensor data (camera, LiDAR) and 3D map data for machine learning models
• Prototype and iterate on Vision-Language Model (VLM) workflows to automatically detect and categorize complex real-world driving scenarios and road changes
• Build ground-truth evaluation datasets, measure model precision and recall, and systematically improve detection accuracy
• Integrate automated labeling pipelines into data storage and simulation testing workflows

You Have

• Currently pursuing a MS or PhD in a quantitative or technical field (such as Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, or a related area)
• Strong programming skills in Python or C++
• Experience with data analysis, SQL, and basic statistics

We Prefer

• Experience with computer vision, Vision-Language Models (VLMs), or prompt engineering
• Familiarity with 3D geometry, coordinate transforms, or sensor data processing
• Experience working with large-scale datasets or distributed data pipelines

General Perks

• Help solve challenging problems with a direct impact on the company
• Competitive compensation packages with a housing/relocation bonus (if applicable)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Fun intern events and networking opportunities

Onsite Perks

• Free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
• Free access to Google shuttles
• Onsite gym

Note: This will be a hybrid onsite internship position.

The expected hourly rate for this full-time position is listed below. Interns are also eligible to participate in the Company’s generous benefits programs, subject to eligibility requirements.

Hourly Masters Pay

$70—$70 USD

The expected hourly rate for this full-time position is listed below. Interns are also eligible to participate in the Company’s generous benefits programs, subject to eligibility requirements.

Hourly PhD Pay

$85—$85 USD