Lead, Motion Planning & Autonomy

Waymo; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 238,000 - 302,000; Full time

Job summary

Waymo is building the Waymo Driver, a leading autonomous driving system, and seeks software engineers or researchers with strong C++ and collaboration skills to advance motion planning and perception capabilities. This hybrid role reports to a Technical Lead Manager, Senior Staff Engineer, and offers a salary range reflecting US market norms.

The team emphasizes robust code, production ML, and cross-functional teamwork, with opportunities to mentor others and tackle complex driving problems.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in Computer Science, ML, Robotics, or 4+ years of equivalent practical experience.
• General software engineering experience programming in C++ with robust and efficient code.
• Ability to collaborate within and across teams.
• 1+ year of management experience with 5+ reports.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for onboard motion planning systems that improve low-speed maneuvering performance.
• Improve evaluation capabilities to better understand on-road performance.
• Provide mentorship for junior engineers on the team.
• Investigate driving behavior issues from logs and understand the root cause.
• Develop foundational frameworks that help advancement of the Waymo Driver's capabilities.
• Directly contribute to solving some of the most challenging driving situations in the long tail.

Skills

C++ programming

Python

SQL

ML in production

Motion planning

Path planning

SWE experience

Team collaboration

Management experience

8+ years SWE

Education

MS/PhD in CS/ML/Robotics or related field

Tools

Graph search

Optimization

Job description

Waymo is building the Waymo Driver, a leading autonomous driving system, and seeks software engineers or researchers with strong C++ and collaboration skills to advance motion planning and perception capabilities. This hybrid role reports to a Technical Lead Manager, Senior Staff Engineer, and offers a salary range reflecting US market norms.

The team emphasizes robust code, production ML, and cross-functional teamwork, with opportunities to mentor others and tackle complex driving problems.