Software Engineer, Data Ingestion

Wayve; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Equity

Relocation assistance

Learning budget

Health insurance

Job summary

Wayve is seeking a data engineer to join the Ingestion Systems team in Sunnyvale. You will debug and optimize high-volume data pipelines that feed annotation, model training and evaluation.

You’ll work with Spark, Python, Airflow and Databricks to build resilient, cost-efficient data flows across partners and data sources. The role demands independent problem-solving and a passion for reliable data infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Experience with Spark and Python in production.
• Built, operated or debugged large-scale ingestion pipelines.
• Diagnose production failures involving corrupt data, stalled queues, retries and complex dependencies.
• Optimise high-throughput systems for reliability, performance and cost.
• Able to learn an existing system quickly, work independently and deliver practical improvements in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience with Airflow, Flyte, Databricks, Delta Lake, Scala or Java is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Debug and unblock failing ingestion pipelines, stalled jobs and processing queues.
• Investigate corrupt, malformed or unexpected data from a variety of sources.
• Optimise Spark jobs and batch-processing pipelines for throughput, reliability and compute efficiency.
• Design and implement more resilient pipelines so individual bad data segments do not block wider workflows.
• Improve monitoring, retries and failure recovery across multi-step ingestion workflows.
• Help prioritise and unblock important datasets for downstream annotation, data science and model-training teams, and contribute to the technical direction of Wayve's ingestion platform.
• High-volume pipelines that process real-world driving data for annotation, data science, model training and evaluation.

Skills

Apache Spark

Python

Ingestion pipelines

ETL processes

Data processing

System debugging

Tools

Airflow

Flyte

Databricks

Delta Lake

Scala

Java

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 Ingestion Systems Team

Our Ingestion Systems team sits within Wayve’s AI Platform organisation and builds the data foundations behind our self-driving technology. We process vast amounts of real-world driving data so it can be used for annotation, model training and evaluation. Operating at petabyte scale, the team focuses on making these critical data flows reliable, efficient and easy to operate.

Your day-to-day

• Debug and unblock failing ingestion pipelines, stalled jobs and processing queues
• Investigate corrupt, malformed or unexpected data from a variety of sources.
• Optimise Spark jobs and batch-processing pipelines for throughput, reliability and compute efficiency.
• Design and implement more resilient pipelines so individual bad data segments do not block wider workflows.
• Improve monitoring, retries and failure recovery across multi-step ingestion workflows.
• Help prioritise and unblock important datasets for downstream annotation, data science and model-training teams, and contribute to the technical direction of Wayve's ingestion platform.

What you’ll be working on

• High-volume pipelines that process real-world driving data for annotation, data science, model training and evaluation.
• Resilient systems that isolate problematic data rather than allowing a single bad segment to block a wider workflow.
• Orchestration across complex dependencies, queues, retries and priority data flows.
• Pragmatic improvements to the performance, cost and operability of our Spark-based data platform.
• Ingestion of varied data formats from partners, suppliers and other third-party sources.

You should apply if

• You have strong production experience with Apache Spark and Python.
• You have built, operated or debugged large-scale ingestion, ETL or distributed data-processing pipelines.
• You are comfortable diagnosing production failures involving corrupt data, stalled queues, retries and complex dependencies.
• You understand how to optimise high-throughput systems for reliability, performance and cost.
• You can learn an existing system quickly, work independently and deliver practical improvements in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience with Airflow, Flyte, Databricks, Delta Lake, Scala or Java would be an advantage.

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 interview Python programming (60 mins), Hiring Manager interview (60 mins)
• Deep-dive technical interview: SQL domain (60 mins), Systems design (60 mins)
• Final interview: Mission and values alignment (45 mins)

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

What’s in it for you (Location dependant):

• 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 partnerships, team socials 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.

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.