Regulatory Counsel

Waymo; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 238,000 - 302,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus program

Equity incentive plan

Generous company benefits

Job summary

Waymo is looking for a Legal Counsel to join its team in San Francisco, CA. This hybrid role involves advising on legal and regulatory compliance related to autonomous driving technology. The ideal candidate will possess a J.D. degree and have 3 to 5 years of relevant legal experience. This role includes collaboration with various departments and representation in front of government agencies. The estimated salary ranges from $238,000 to $302,000 annually, with potential bonus and benefits.

Qualifications

• 3 to 5+ years of legal experience in administrative law or compliance.
• Active bar membership.
• Strong analytical and writing skills.

Responsibilities

• Advise on state and local laws and regulations.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners on regulatory issues.
• Represent Waymo with government agencies.

Skills

Legal analysis

Communication skills

Regulatory compliance

Team collaboration

Education

Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree

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 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.

As part of Waymo's Legal team, you will work on the exciting legal issues surrounding our transformational autonomous driving technology and help drive our business lines forward from technology ideation through scaled commercial deployment. We partner with our public policy, safety, security and privacy experts to define transportation policy for the autonomous driving world to come, advising on regulatory changes that support and protect our users around the world. We collaborate with our engineering, product, strategy and operations teams to develop and protect our intellectual property portfolio and drive our corporate and commercial transactions. We ensure compliance with an increasingly complex and dynamic range of global regulations. And we anticipate, mitigate, and litigate high‑profile and precedent-setting legal matters.

In this hybrid role, you will report into our Assistant General Counsel, Regulatory.

You will:

• Advise on the applicability of existing state and local laws and regulations in novel factual situations.
• Partner with cross‑functional partners (e.g. Policy, Product, Safety, Engineering) to shape outcomes in regulatory and legislative proceedings that impact Waymo's operations.
• Represent Waymo in interactions with government agencies.
• Advise teams building scalable operational and regulatory compliance programs and processes.
• Gain subject matter expertise in new areas as novel issues and topics emerge.

You have:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school and active bar membership.
• 3 to 5+ years of experience as an attorney at a firm, in‑house at a company, or in government, practicing in the area of administrative law, agency regulations, regulatory legislation and/or compliance.
• Exceptional analytical and writing skills and a comprehensive understanding of complex legal subject matter.
• Experience in ambiguous or challenging situations involving safety‑critical issues.
• Ability to propose practical solutions to legal issues and lead legal compliance and risk mitigation efforts, executing with appropriate urgency.
• Excellent communication skills, with a track record of collaborative engagement with industry stakeholders about sensitive, complex topics.

We prefer:

• Experience with relevant subject matter such as autonomous vehicles, other automotive, ride‑hailing.
• Experience with land use and infrastructure regulatory matters.
• Experience in supporting the expansion of highly regulated business operations.

Travel Requirements:

• Potential for limited travel to support domestic expansion efforts.

Salary

The expected base salary range for this full‑time position across U.S. locations is $238,000—$302,000 USD. Actual starting pay will be based on job‑related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. 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.