Staff Research Scientist, Perception

Waymo; New York (NY); On-site; USD 251,000 - 310,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid Time Off: 20 days

Sick Time: 40 hours/year

Maternity Leave: 28-30 weeks

Holidays: 13 paid days

Job summary

Waymo is seeking a skilled professional in autonomous driving technology to join their AI Foundations team. This role involves developing machine learning solutions to enhance the performance of autonomous vehicles across various environments.

Ideal candidates will possess a BS/MS in Computer Science, 5+ years of experience with Deep Learning and Generative Models, and strong Python skills. Benefits include a comprehensive insurance package and 20 days of PTO annually.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience with Deep Learning and Generative Models.
• Familiarity with major ML Frameworks.
• Strong coding skills in Python.

Responsibilities

• Use Multimodal LLMs to perform 3D detection.
• Develop and maintain scalable data pipelines for training and evaluation.
• Design and implement evaluation frameworks for perception models.

Skills

Deep Learning

Generative Models

Python

ML Frameworks (JAX, Tensorflow, Pytorch)

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or similar

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.

The mission of the Waymo AI Foundations team is to develop machine learning solutions addressing open problems in autonomous driving, towards the goal of safely operating Waymo vehicles in dozens of cities and under all driving conditions. As part of our work, we also initiate and foster collaborations with other research teams in Alphabet. AI Foundations areas that we are currently focusing on include reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, generative modeling, Bayesian inference, hierarchical learning, and robust evaluation.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule and reports to a Principal Research Scientist.

You Will

• Use Multimodal LLMs to perform 3D detection
• Develop and maintain scalable data pipelines for Training & Eval to process data from multiple sources.
• Design and implement evaluation frameworks for perception models.
• Study and analyze different behaviors of this model, such as scaling efficacy, downstream quality implications, model architecture design ablations, etc.
• Design and implement Perception Modeling solutions to understand LiDAR/Camera/Radar information from autonomous vehicle sensors.
• Communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences regarding research motivations and research findings.
• Conduct cutting‑edge research and potentially communicate research findings to the wider academic community via technical reports and/or publications.

You Have

• BS/MS degree in Computer Science or a similar discipline, or an equivalent amount of deep learning experience.
• 5+ years of experience with Deep Learning and Generative Models.
• Familiarity with major ML Frameworks (JAX, Tensorflow, Pytorch)
• Strong coding skills in Python.

We Prefer

• PhD degree in Computer Science or a similar discipline, or an equivalent amount of deep learning research experience.
• Publications at top-tier conferences like CVPR/ICCV/ECCV/ICLR/ICML/NeurIPS/IROS/CoRL etc.
• Substantial involvement in and contributions to high impact industry AI projects.
• Experience in generative models for domains such as world models, images, videos, 3D, human animation, traffic, and/or simulation, using techniques such as diffusion or autoregressive models.

Benefits

In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (statutory, where applicable); 5 days/event (discretionary)
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year

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.

Salary Range
$251,000—$310,000 USD