Senior Staff Technical Program Manager, New Product Programs

Waymo LLC; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 272,000 - 336,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus program

Equity incentive

Benefits program

Job summary

Waymo is seeking a Commercialization & Strategic PMO Technical Program Manager to lead cross-organizational programs for new product initiatives. You will partner with Product, Engineering, Hardware, Safety, Legal and Operations to move concepts from idea through real-world launch in a hybrid work setting.

You will architect end-to-end program structures, manage work breakdowns, schedules and interdependencies, and influence senior leaders.

Qualifications

• 10+ years leading transformational, multi-organization technical programs.
• Ability to influence strategic technical direction and complex architectures.
• Experience structuring ambiguous initiatives into milestones and ownership.
• Experience managing large distributed engineering organizations without direct line authority.
• Experience with safety-critical, regulated hardware-software products.
• Strong executive presence and ability to influence VP/CL leadership.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead cross-organizational technical programs for new product initiatives.
• Own end-to-end program structure, work breakdowns, schedules and interdependencies.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Hardware, Safety, Legal and Operations for launches.
• Establish scalable operating frameworks and readiness playbooks.
• Travel occasionally to Bay Area offices and partner sites (~10%).

Skills

Technical program leadership

Executive communication

Stakeholder alignment

Cross-org coordination

Resource management

Strategic decision making

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.

Waymo's Commercialization & Strategic PMO Technical Program Managers are accountable for delivering Waymo's commercial business lines, platform expansion, and strategic new initiatives. We provide thoughtful cross-functional planning, clarity, and proactive risk management. When a new product has no established playbook, we act with thoughtful urgency to structure the work, drive decisions, and align teams across organizations. We partner closely with Product, Engineering, Hardware, Safety, Legal, and Operations to take new initiatives from early concept to real-world launch.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule, and you will report to the Director of Technical Program Management, Commercialization & Strategic PMO.

You will:

• Architect and lead the holistic, cross-organizational technical program for Waymo's New Product Programs initiatives
• Own and drive the end-to-end program structure, work breakdown, and master schedule across pillars, delegating sub-projects across domain TPMs while retaining accountability for the holistic program and its interdependencies.
• Serve as a strategic technical partner to Product and Engineering leadership across TaaS, Fleet & Operations, Onboard Autonomy, Hardware, and Systems/Safety Engineering
• Simplify interfaces across organizational boundaries by establishing scalable operating frameworks, cross-org structures, and readiness playbooks.
• Occasional travel between Bay Area offices, test facilities/depots, OEM partner sites, or expansion markets, about one week per quarter (~10%).

You have:

• 10+ years of experience leading transformational, multi-organization technical programs from 0-to-1 conception through public launch and scaled operations across hardware, embedded/onboard software, cloud/mobile platforms, and physical operations.
• Demonstrated technical judgment equivalent to a senior/staff practicing engineer (L5+ SWE): ability to influence strategic technical direction, evaluate complex system architectures across onboard and offboard stacks, and broker high-stakes velocity vs. quality decisions.
• A proven track record of structuring ambiguous, company-level initiatives into unambiguous work breakdowns, milestones, and accountability frameworks while managing a portfolio of interdependent workstreams and guiding other TPMs.
• Deep experience in resource management, capacity forecasting, and financial/unit-economics modeling across large distributed engineering organizations (100+ engineers) without direct line authority.
• Experience navigating safety-critical, regulated, or hardware-software integrated consumer products where product readiness, verification & validation (V&V), and field operations must converge on strict release cadences.
• Exceptional executive presence and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to influence VP/C-level leadership, align multidisciplinary leads (Engineering, Product, Legal, Safety, Operations, OEM Partnerships), and drive organizational change.

We prefer:

• Experience in autonomous vehicles, automotive OEM platform programs, robotics, aerospace, or complex consumer hardware-software ecosystems with long hardware freeze lead times.
• A track record of taking a net-new business line or incubation program inside a scaled technology company from early prototype/fishfood to external customer pilot and commercial agreement.
• Familiarity with automotive regulatory and homologation frameworks (DMV, CPUC, NHTSA, FMVSS, multi-stage manufacturing), consumer auto insurance/underwriting, or physical fleet/depot operations.
• Experience mentoring, coordinating, and scaling a cohort of Technical Program Managers across multiple functional pillars (e.g., Onboard, Cloud/Mobile, Fleet, Release/Safety).

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

$272,000-$336,000 USD