Staff Site Reliability Engineer, Waymo Fleet

Waymo; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 251,000 - 310,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity incentive

Annual bonus

Benefits program

Job summary

Waymo, the autonomous driving technology leader, seeks an experienced Software Reliability Engineer to unite software and systems engineering for the Waymo Driver’s mission-critical services. You will own end-to-end reliability for fleet operations, drive automation, and lead architectural decisions across multiple teams.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in reliability, strong C++, Java or Python skills, and a proven record of leading cross-functional initiatives in complex environments.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience architecting and maintaining mission‑critical systems in C++, Java, or Python.
• Proven depth in software reliability and leading reliability programs for complex systems.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives between Engineering and Dev.
• Experience communicating a shared vision, strategy, and priorities across orgs.
• Ability to influence decision makers and mentor engineers.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a Waymo production expert and collaborate to build reliable systems for autonomous vehicle operations.
• Manage end-to-end availability and performance for core fleet services; develop observability and automation.
• Write designs and implement software to improve system architecture, telemetry or deployment for mission-critical services.
• Provide technical leadership while troubleshooting complex reliability issues and managing technical debt.
• Arbitrate in technical disagreements to set global architectural guidelines.
• Lead cross-functional collaborations to integrate projects into reusable components and services.
• Champion operational excellence and blameless retrospectives; mentor leadership within the team.
• Drive incident response standards and participate in a sustainable on-call rotation.

Skills

C++

Java

Python

Leadership

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE

Tools

Git

Observability

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.

Software Reliability Engineering: Waymo's software reliability engineers (SRE) are responsible for the stable operation of Waymo's fully autonomous systems and supporting infrastructure. As an SRE, you combine software and systems engineering techniques to build and run large-scale, fault-tolerant, reliable systems. You focus on optimizing existing systems, building new infrastructure, eliminating manual, error-prone or time-consuming work through automation, and ensuring products that are fast, efficient, and effective.

You will:

• Serve as a Waymo production expert, and collaborate with other engineers to build reliable systems for autonomous vehicle operations, including depot logistics, automation flow, and critical vehicle state infrastructure.
• Manage end-to-end availability and performance for core fleet services, ensuring we have enough usable vehicle supply available to meet targeted user demand, and developing observability and automation to support this goal.
• Write designs and implement software to improve system architecture, telemetry or deployment for fleet-specific mission-critical services, preventing outages that could hinder vehicle launch or maintenance.
• Provide technical leadership and direction while troubleshooting highly complex system reliability issues and managing technical debt.
• Arbitrate in cases of technical disagreement among team members, SREs, SWE partners, and PMs to set global architectural guidelines.
• Lead cross-functional and cross-organizational collaborations to integrate disparate projects and processes into widely-reusable components and services.
• Champion operational excellence and blameless retrospectives, mentoring and developing leadership within the team to ensure efficient delivery of the vision.
• Drive operational standards for fleet and supply infrastructure by leading incident response efforts. You'll participate in a sustainable on-call rotation, while championing a culture of blameless retrospectives to drive continuous improvement.

You have:

• 8+ years of experience architecting and maintaining mission-critical systems in C++, Java, or Python.
• Proven depth and breadth of knowledge in software reliability, acting as the "go-to" expert for resolving highly complex, high-impact system failures..
• Demonstrated track record of successfully leading the reliability program of a complex system (e.g., autonomous systems, cloud infrastructure, or large-scale web service.)
• Experience developing and communicating a shared vision, strategy, and priorities across multiple organizations and stakeholders.
• Proven ability to influence beyond the immediate area of responsibility, providing input to key decision makers that directly impact the future direction of the program.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives between Engineering and Dev.
• A history of developing leadership within teams, including delegating, and recruiting/mentoring engineers to improve team scaling and execution.
• A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or 10+ years similar experience in a high-growth environment with leadership experience.

We prefer:

• Demonstrated track record of leading multiple large projects or a mission-critical program from concept to delivery.
• Proven ability to anticipate and solve problems across functional groups, translating business needs into site reliability initiatives.
• Strong background in managing technical debt and system evolution, balancing business velocity with best reliability practices.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional architectural investigations and resolve complex, high-impact system failures in distributed systems.
• A Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.

Travel requirements (if applicable):

• Once or twice a year travel to the Bay Area, US is preferred (but not required)

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.

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

$251,000 — $310,000 USD