Director AV Product Engineering

Wayve; United States; On-site; USD 440,000 - 580,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayve is seeking an Engineering Director to lead the Product Engineering group within its AI Engineering organisation. Based in London or Sunnyvale with a hybrid policy, you will own the autonomous driving capability roadmap and production-grade models across multiple OEM partnerships.

You will set the technical direction, guide Engineering Managers, and drive data-centric development, testing, and deployment practices to achieve business goals.

Qualifications

• Essential: Delivered Autonomy products relying on complex AI models.
• Essential: Experience leading complex, multi-layered teams or matrixed organizations.
• Essential: Domain experience with autonomy products—autopilot/navigation, active safety, parking.
• Essential: Roadmap articulation and interface with leadership & business functions.
• Essential: Resource allocation and program planning/execution 1–2 years out.
• Essential: Code development practices, testing and serviceability.
• Essential: BS or MS in CS/Engineering or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the technical vision, strategy and metrics for the area.
• Frame autonomous driving as a data-driven problem and design data curriculums.
• Drive an eval-driven culture to achieve KPI targets with efficiency.
• Partner with senior leadership to maintain impact, performance and health.
• Build technical capabilities across the division; develop engineers as Wayve grows.
• Mentor Engineering Managers and coordinate across Wayve for career growth.
• Develop career plans and growth trajectories for team members.

Skills

Autonomy products

Management

Domain skills: autonomy

Product delivery

Execution planning

Engineering practices

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

Cloud platforms

Databases

Large-scale data pipelines

Job description

The role

As Director of Engineering you will manage the Product Engineering group within our AI Engineering organisation. You will report to the VP of Autonomy.

The role is on the critical path to the financial success of the business. You are responsible for taking AI model backbones and delivering an autonomous vehicle capability roadmap with production-level quality. This includes collecting, filtering and selecting the most relevant training data; and then training, tuning, debugging production models. The technology will be deployed to multiple OEM partners working with separate Application teams.

You are expected to establish solid ML practices from the start and to attract technical leadership. You will lead multiple teams covering Driving, ADAS, Parking, HMI functionality.

You will set the technical direction in your area and ensure that deliverables align with company objectives. You will provide leadership and guidance to each of the Engineering Managers that work within your area. You will steer the teams and coordinate with others across Wayve. You will work with leaders across the company to ensure career growth for your teams.

This means you will:

• Define and own the technical vision, strategy and metrics for your area, ensuring its teams and the rest of Wayve are aligned and galvanised.

• Frame autonomous driving as a problem that can be solved by data. Define efficient data curriculums to ensure product feature and geographical coverage.

• Drive an eval-driven culture to reach KPI targets with high predictability and resource efficiency.

• Partner with the senior leadership team to maintain a culture of impact, performance, and health.

• Build technical capabilities across the division and develop talented engineers as Wayve grows. Build resilient and reliable systems, teams and individuals.

• Work closely with team members to develop career plans and growth trajectories based on each individual’s strengths and weaknesses and their own aspirations.

You will be essential to Wayve’s mission, deeply enjoy what you do, take immense pride in being a part of something big, and love pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

About you

In order to set you up for success as an Engineering Director at Wayve, we’re looking for the following skills and experience.

Essential

• You have delivered successful Autonomy products that rely on complex AI models.

• Management: experience leading complex teams, e.g., multiple management layers or matrixed.

• Domain skills: experience with autonomy products – autopilot/navigation, active safety, parking.

• Product delivery skills: roadmap articulation, interface with leadership & business functions.

• Execution skills: resource allocation, program planning and execution 1-2 years out.

• Engineering skills: code development practices, testing, serviceability.

• Education: BS or MS in Computer Science, Engineering, or similar experience.

Desirable

• Experience applying foundation models to implement specific product features.

• Experience working with multiple automotive OEMs.

• Experience with GenAI simulation.

• Experience with cloud platforms, databases, large scale data pipelines.

This is a full-time role based in our office in London or Sunnyvale. At Wayve we want the best of all worlds so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships and learning, and time spent working from home.

The reasonably estimated salary for this role ranges from $440,000 to $580,000, plus a competitive equity package. Actual compensation is based on the candidate’s skills, qualifications, and experience.