Software Engineer 2027 Summer Intern (Simulation Evaluation ML Model, MS/PhD)

Waymo LLC; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 83,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

On-site meals

Commuter benefits

401(k)

Job summary

Waymo LLC in Mountain View, CA is seeking a graduate student to advance autonomous driving research. You will design and implement semantic extraction pipelines, temporal graph models, and retrieval engines to support autonomy engineers.

The internship offers hybrid onsite work with opportunities to publish, collaborate across ML, robotics, and software infrastructure teams, and to contribute to real-world 4D data processing and analysis.

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a graduate program (PhD or Master’s) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field, with at least one academic term remaining.
• Strong foundation in core computer science concepts, data structures, algorithm complexity, and distributed data systems.
• Demonstrated research background or practical experience in Knowledge Graphs, Graph Algorithms, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), or Information Retrieval / Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Authorship of published papers in top-tier AI/ML, data mining, or computer vision conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, KDD, WWW, CVPR, CoRL, SIGMOD, VLDB, ACL).

Responsibilities

• Design and implement an automated semantic extraction pipeline that parses large-scale simulation logs, vehicle trajectory data, and multi-agent events into structured graph representations.
• Develop temporal graph modeling techniques to capture time-varying multi-agent interactions and safety-critical driving events.
• Build a multi-modal hybrid retrieval engine to enable fast scenario discovery and serve as memory for failure analysis agents.
• Create interactive data exploration tools and visualization dashboards to help autonomy engineers analyze complex scenario distributions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with simulation researchers, ML engineers, and software infrastructure teams to document system architecture and roadmap recommendations.

Skills

Python

C++

Linux

Deep learning

Knowledge Graphs

Graph Algorithms

Graph Neural Networks

Information Retrieval

Distributed data systems

Education

Graduate student in CS/AI/Robotics

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

TensorFlow

Apache Spark

Apache Beam

Job description

• Software Engineering builds the brains of Waymo’s fully autonomous driving technology. Our software allows the Waymo Driver to perceive the world around it, make the right decision for every situation, and deliver people safely to their destinations
• We think deeply and solve complex technical challenges in areas like robotics, perception, decision-making and deep learning, while collaborating with hardware and systems engineers
• Waymo interns partner with leaders in the industry on projects that create impact to the company. We believe learning is a two-way street: applying your knowledge while providing you with opportunities to expand your skill-set. Interns are an important part of our culture and our recruiting pipeline. Join us at Waymo for a fun and rewarding internship!
• Design and implement an automated semantic extraction pipeline that parses large-scale simulation logs, vehicle trajectory data, and multi-agent behavioral events into structured graph representations (entities, temporal relationships, and causal interactions)
• Develop temporal graph modeling techniques to capture time-varying multi-agent interactions, road context, and safety-critical driving events
• Build a multi-modal hybrid retrieval engine (combining dense vector embeddings, keyword search, and graph traversal) to enable fast scenario discovery and serve as structured memory for automated failure analysis agents
• Create interactive data exploration tools and visualization dashboards (e.g., Jupyter/Colab-based explorers) to help autonomy engineers and researchers analyze complex scenario distribution
• Benchmark retrieval precision, recall, and query latency against traditional tabular and relational search baselines
• Collaborate cross-functionally with simulation researchers, machine learning engineers, and software infrastructure teams to document system architecture and establish roadmap recommendations
• Help solve challenging problems with a direct impact on the company
• This will be a hybrid onsite internship position

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents
• Employee assistance programs focused on mental health
• Personalized workplace adjustments for diverse needs and abilities, including physical, mental, and neurodivergent considerations
• Access to mental health apps
• Onsite wellness centers
• Medical advocacy program for transgender employees
• Support programs including menopause benefit
• Second medical opinion for you and your loved ones
• Counseling services
• Competitive compensation
• Regular bonus and equity performance grant opportunities
• Generous 401(k) and regional retirement plans
• 1-on-1 financial coaching
• Annual cross-company compensation review and pay equity analysis
• Fertility and growing family assistance
• Parental leave and baby bonding leave
• Elder care and support
• Backup childcare
• Survivor income benefit
• Caregiver leave
• Paid time off, including vacation, bereavement, sick leave, parental leave, disability, and holidays
• Jury duty leave
• Military leave
• Hybrid work model with remote work opportunities also available
• Educational reimbursement
• Peer learning and coaching platform
• Donation matching programs
• Volunteer hours
• Employee resource groups
• Internal community groups and local culture clubs
• Inspiring spaces to work, recharge, and collaborate with fellow Waymonauts
• On-site meals and snacks
• Fitness centers, massage programs, and ergonomic support
• On-demand fitness, wellbeing, and cooking classes
• Commuter benefits

If you’re a software engineer or researcher who’s curious and passionate about Level 4 autonomous driving, we’d like to meet youHands-on experience with modern deep learning frameworks (such as PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow)Strong software development experience in Python and/or C++ in a Linux development environmentCurrently enrolled in a graduate program (PhD or Master’s) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field, with at least one academic term remainingSolid foundation in core computer science concepts, data structures, algorithm complexity, and distributed data systemsDemonstrated research background or practical experience in Knowledge Graphs, Graph Algorithms, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), or Information Retrieval / Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)Authorship of published papers in top-tier AI/ML, data mining, or computer vision conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, KDD, The Web Conference [WWW], CVPR, CoRL, SIGMOD, VLDB, ACL)Experience with large-scale distributed data processing systems (e.g., Apache Spark, Apache Beam, distributed SQL query engines, or columnar data lakes)Familiarity with temporal graphs, bi-temporal data modeling, or graph databases/toolingDemonstrated interest or domain experience in autonomous vehicle simulation, behavior prediction, motion planning, trajectory forecasting, or multi-agent interaction modeling