Staff Tech Lead Software Engineer, Vehicle Realism Platform

Waymo; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 251,000 - 310,000; Full time

Job summary

Waymo is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to advance the Waymo Driver simulation and backend systems. You will collaborate with onboard, simulation, and infrastructure teams to design scalable software that powers autonomous driving development.

The role requires 6+ years of coding in C++, building widely used products, and strong backend experience with databases and SQL. We offer competitive salary, bonus eligibility, and equity within a distributed environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software development experience
• Strong background in C++
• Hands-on experience building a popular product
• Experience on backend knowledge such as workflows, databases, SQL, debugging, production monitoring, etc

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with onboard and research engineers to expand simulation capabilities and achieve critical Waymo milestones.
• Monitor and improve the reproducibility, reliability, and usability of the Waymo simulator.
• Design long‑term architectures to accommodate a growing number of internal customers and product requirements.
• Bridge vehicle subsystems and simulation infrastructure to enhance overall robotic realism.
• Partner closely with collaborators from Simulator, Eval, Hardware, and Onboard orgs, integrating the building blocks they provide and turning them into reliable, reproducible simulation solutions.

Skills

C++

Backend development

SQL

Debugging

Production monitoring

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 Simulation Team builds technology that supports the development of the Waymo Driver. It allows the Waymo driver to be tested on millions of miles of traffic before it hits the road. Simulation is crucial to Waymo’s mission of developing the world’s most experienced driver.

The VRP (Vehicle Realism Platform) team builds tools and systems to enable realistic autonomous-driving simulation capabilities across all hardware platforms and diverse driving conditions. VRP manages the interface between the core Simulator Architecture and the physical representation of the vehicle, which includes platform expression, physics, environment, timing, and hardware models in the Simulator. We ensure that signals we get from simulation reflect real-world driving behavior. Our team empowers engineers across Waymo to safely iterate, test, and validate autonomous driving at scale, directly supporting autonomous driving software development, evaluation, and deployment worldwide.

You Will

• Collaborate with onboard and research engineers to expand simulation capabilities and achieve critical Waymo milestones.
• Monitor and improve the reproducibility, reliability, and usability of the Waymo simulator.
• Design long‑term architectures to accommodate a growing number of internal customers and product requirements.
• Bridge vehicle subsystems and simulation infrastructure to enhance overall robotic realism.
• Partner closely with collaborators from Simulator, Eval, Hardware, and Onboard orgs, integrating the building blocks they provide and turning them into reliable, reproducible simulation solutions.

You Have

• Hands‑on experience building a popular (internal or external‑facing) product
• Experience on backend knowledge such as workflows, databases, SQL, debugging, production monitoring, etc
• 6+ years experience in software development
• A strong background in C++

We Prefer

• Experience with the release of software in a highly distributed heterogeneous execution environment
• Experience with systems programming (game engines, database, OS, distributed)
• Experience with robotics or perception systems
• Experience with performance optimization in complex backend and infrastructure systems
• Experience with ML

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