ML Engineer, Predictive Planning for Autonomous Driving

Waymo; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary annual bonus

Equity incentive plan

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Waymo is advancing autonomous driving through the Predictive Planning team (PrePlan). This role focuses on designing and evaluating state-of-the-art generative models for planning and prediction, and translating real-world driving challenges into solid ML problems while scaling production systems.

Collaboration with researchers, engineers, and PMs is essential to deliver safe, smooth planning behaviors. The role requires a PhD in a related field or equivalent practical experience, with

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics or equivalent practical experience.
• Publications in top-tier conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, etc.).
• Proven impact on ML community via open-source projects or industry contributions.
• Hands-on expertise with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., JAX or PyTorch).
• Proficient programming in Python and/or C++.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and evaluate state-of-the-art generative models for autonomous vehicle planning and prediction.
• Develop next-generation ML-powered systems that scale Waymo Driver and business.
• Translate real-world driving challenges into well-defined ML problems using foundation models and reinforcement learning.
• Write high-quality, scalable, and thoroughly tested code for production deployment.
• Collaborate with researchers, engineers, and product managers to deliver safe, smooth planning behaviors and publish findings at top venues.

Skills

Python

C++

Deep learning

JAX

PyTorch

Debugging

Education

PhD in CS/ML/Robotics

Job description

Waymo is advancing autonomous driving through the Predictive Planning team (PrePlan). This role focuses on designing and evaluating state-of-the-art generative models for planning and prediction, and translating real-world driving challenges into solid ML problems while scaling production systems.

Collaboration with researchers, engineers, and PMs is essential to deliver safe, smooth planning behaviors. The role requires a PhD in a related field or equivalent practical experience, with