Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Driving Product

Wayve; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Equity participation

Relocation support

Hybrid working model

Learning & development budgets

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Wayve is seeking an experienced ML Engineer to advance our AI driver model architecture and training pipelines in Sunnyvale. You will own the data strategy, evaluation metrics, and iteration cycles, enabling robust end-to-end delivery from data to deployed models.

You will work with multi-sensor inputs, develop production-grade ML systems, and collaborate across teams to scale the autonomous driving platform in real-world scenarios.

Qualifications

• Proven track record training deep learning models with end-to-end ownership.
• Experience taking ML models into production, handling real-world constraints, quality and safety requirements.
• Strong Python skills and hands-on experience with modern ML frameworks.
• Background in either end-to-end autonomous driving/embodied AI or large-scale product ML systems.
• Familiar with model compression and deploying ML to embedded systems (nice to have).

Responsibilities

• Develop the AI driver model architecture and training algorithms for L2/L3/L4 driving behaviours.
• Own training lifecycle, including evaluation strategy, success metrics, and iteration planning.
• Curate real-world and synthetic data to teach driving behaviours and support training.
• Run on-road and offline experiments; translate results into concrete next steps and improvements.
• Build production-ready ML systems with strong software engineering, quality, and reliability practices.

Skills

Deep learning

Python

Production ML

Reinforcement learning

Behavioural cloning

Model training

Data pipelines

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

scikit-learn

Job description

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

About our Driving Product Teams

The Driving Product team builds the AI driver's core behaviours, taking models from data and training through evaluation and on-road validation, then shipping them into the car on timelines measured in months, not years. The team's work has direct impact on high-priority commercial deliveries, including Nissan production and Robotaxi, and spans the full spectrum from Level 2 to Level 4 driving. It's a small, high-ownership team at a point of rapid growth, blending ML research with shipping-focused engineering.

Your day-to-day

• Develop the AI driver model architecture and training algorithms to introduce and enhance driving behaviours for L2/L3/L4
• Own key parts of the training model lifecycle, including evaluation strategy, success metrics, and iteration planning
• Mine, bucket, and curate real-world and synthetic data to teach specific driving behaviours, and implement data schemes to support training
• Run and analyse on-road and offline experiments, translate results into clear next steps, and drive improvements through repeated training cycles

What you'll be working on:

• Models that predict vehicle trajectories and interact directly with controllers and actuators, closing the loop between prediction and real-world vehicle performance
• End-to-end work across data, model training, evaluation, deployment, and performance monitoring
• On-road and off-road metrics that diagnose issues and drive data-led model iterations
• Production-ready ML systems built with strong software engineering, quality, and reliability practices
• Methods spanning reinforcement learning, behavioural cloning, and distillation, working with multi-sensor inputs such as camera, radar, and lidar where relevant

You should apply if:

• Proven track record training deep learning models with clear end-to-end ownership: data, training, evaluation, and iteration
• You've taken ML models into production, working through real-world constraints, quality, and safety requirements
• Strong Python skills and hands-on experience with modern ML frameworks
• Comfortable shipping production-facing ML, not just research or proof-of-concept work
• Background in either end-to-end autonomous driving/embodied AI, or large-scale product ML systems such as recommendations or ranking
• Bring reinforcement learning or behavioural cloning experience, especially where it materially improved real-world performance
• Familiar with model compression and deploying ML to embedded systems (nice to have)

Not ticking every box? That's totally okay! If you're passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement.

More about Wayve:

Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve's mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work — Locations & Flexible Working:

Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

The Interview Process:

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

• Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins)
• Competency interviews (programming and system design; 2 hours)
• Deep-dive technical interviews (Hiring manager interview, Applied ML interview and Pytorch debugging interview; 3 hours)
• Final interview: mission & values alignment (45 minutes)

We'll always explain the format and work around your availability.

What's in it for you (Location dependent):

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve
• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable
• Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partner discounts and more

A quick, honest note before you apply.

Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.

If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you.

At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.