Lead, Resilience Governance

Waymo; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 168,000 - 207,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus program

Equity incentive plan

Benefits program

Job summary

Waymo is seeking a Policy, Resilience & Process lead to build and refine resilience policies, standards, and incident response plans that align with the Waymo Safety Management System. This hybrid role partners with Product, Engineering, Operations, Facilities, Legal and Policy to design robust workflows and escalation pathways globally.

You will map value streams, drive continuous improvement, and coordinate readiness for external audits and regulatory assessments across new geographies while

Qualifications

• 5+ years of policy, standards and processes experience in resilience and incident management.
• Strong cross-functional partnering with Product and Engineering.
• Attention to detail and ability to translate complex information into clear documentation.
• Experience leading after action reviews and retrospectives to drive continuous improvements.

Responsibilities

• Build, own, and improve resilience policies, standards, and plans (including incident and crisis response).
• Cultivate and manage cross-functional partnerships to design complex process flows, escalation pathways, and robust operational tooling for event-response protocols globally.
• Lead value stream and process mapping initiatives and project manage sub-working groups to standardize resilient workflows across markets.
• Drive continuous improvement and SMS assurance by post-incident reviews and root-cause analysis to prevent recurrences.
• Ensure vendor and partner continuity plans align to support scalability and regulatory readiness.

Skills

Policy writing

Cross-functional collaboration

Process design

Attention to detail

Post-incident reviews

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.

The Waymo Safety team works to promote and help to continuously improve the safety of Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology. Our experts develop safety goals and strategies, and conduct safety engineering analyses to ensure safety is being considered throughout the design and development of our vehicles. The team develops and promotes safety strategies and policies for autonomous vehicles for its work with regulatory authorities, lawmakers, law enforcement and public and non-profit organizations. Our Safety Team also helps advise on compliance with applicable environmental, health, and safety regulations.

In this hybrid role you will report into our Program Manager, Resilience Policy & Process.

You will:

• Build, own, and continuously improve resilience policies, standards, and plans (including incident and crisis response), ensuring direct alignment with Waymo's Safety Management System (SMS).
• Cultivate and manage robust cross-functional partnerships (e.g., with Product, Engineering, Operations, Facilities, Legal, and Policy) to design complex process flows, escalation pathways, and robust operational tooling for event-response protocols globally.
• Lead value stream and process mapping initiatives (from monitoring/triggers to severity categorization) and project manage sub-working groups to standardize resilient workflows across new and existing markets.
• Drive continuous improvement and SMS assurance by incorporating post-incident reviews and retrospectives to determine root causes, identify corrective actions, and prevent future occurrences.
• Ensure vendor and partner continuity plans are robustly aligned to support scalability; support the organization's preparation for external audits, inspections, or regulatory assessments across new global geos.

You have:

• 5+ years of experience building and writing policy, standards, and processes, especially in resilience, incident management, operations, and/or business continuity.
• Track record of strong cross-functional partnership with diverse stakeholders, especially to design complex process and escalation flows with a Product and Engineering focus.
• Extreme curiosity to understand the status quo, always asks "why?", and considers alternatives.
• Exceptional attention to detail with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear and concise documentation.
• Experience reviewing and participating in after action reviews and retrospectives to identify action items for continuous improvement initiatives. Ability to productively solicit feedback and input from stakeholders to build a comprehensive narrative.

We prefer:

• Experience with technical writing, especially in a Safety, Product, or Operations focused environment.
• Background in the autonomous, transportation, and/or weather forecast and response fields.
• Experience contributing to the implementation or revision of Safety Management Systems (SMS) or equivalent compliance programs.
• Experience in highly regulated industries such as Automotive, Maritime, Aviation, or similar sectors, providing familiarity with safety-critical systems, compliance frameworks, and complex operational procedures.
• Certifications or other relevant experience with incident management and business continuity best practices and frameworks (e.g., NIMS/ICS, ITIL Incident Management, or similar), indicating a structured approach to incident handling and continuous improvement.

Travel:

• As required, < 20%

The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.

Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo's discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.

Salary Range

$168,000 — $207,000 USD