Staff Vehicle Program Manager

Waabi; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation & equity

Health, Dental, Vision benefits

Unlimited vacation

Flexible hours

Work from home support

Office snacks & catered meals

Team building activities

Job summary

Waabi, a leader in Physical AI for autonomous transportation, seeks an experienced Vehicle Program Manager to own OEM integrations from setup to on-road milestones. You will coordinate across Hardware, Embedded, Onboard, Infra and Autonomy teams, balancing priorities to ensure milestones land on schedule.

With a startup pace and a breadth of engineering disciplines, you will influence executive reviews and drive deep technical triage on test vehicles to keep programs moving forward.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of engineering experience in vehicle development, autonomous vehicles, ADAS or robotics.
• 3+ years leading technical integration programs.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical, Electrical, Computer or Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical integration of the Waabi Driver with an OEM partner, from program setup through driverless operation.
• Be part of a team of multidisciplinary Engineers and Research Scientists using an AI-first approach to enable safe self-driving at scale.
• Turn company goals into an integrated program plan with the partner, covering Waabi and OEM deliverables, cross-team dependencies and the critical path.
• Balance resources and priorities across Hardware, Embedded, Onboard, Infra and Autonomy, and make trade-off calls when one plan affects another.
• Act as Waabi's technical face to the OEM and build trust at every level, from executive reviews to working-level engineering teams.
• Go deep when it matters: work with engineers on test vehicles to triage integration issues and drive them to a decision.

Skills

Engineering leadership

System integration

Communication skills

Problem solving

Ambiguity tolerance

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Jira

Job description

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech.

With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

Waabi is adding OEM partners, and each partnership needs an engineer who owns the technical integration from program setup to on-road milestones. The Vehicle Program Manager is Waabi's technical face to one OEM partner. They turn company goals into an integrated program plan, align Hardware, Embedded, Onboard, Infra and Autonomy to deliver it, and make sure integration milestones land on schedule. A successful candidate can span the range of executive meetings to in-vehicle debugging on the test track. As we scale to more partners, each OEM needs its own dedicated owner, for focus and for partner confidentiality. We are looking for an engineer with breadth across the autonomous capable systems, the ability to go deep, and a curious, startup mindset that speeds up our autonomous vehicle programs.

You will...

• Own the technical integration of the Waabi Driver with an OEM partner, from program setup through driverless operation.
• Be part of a team of multidisciplinary Engineers and Research Scientists using an AI-first approach to enable safe self-driving at scale.
• Turn company goals into an integrated program plan with the partner, covering Waabi and OEM deliverables, cross-team dependencies and the critical path.
• Balance resources and priorities across Hardware, Embedded, Onboard, Infra and Autonomy, and make trade-off calls when one plan affects another.
• Act as Waabi's technical face to the OEM and build trust at every level, from executive reviews to working-level engineering teams.
• Go deep when it matters: work with engineers on test vehicles to triage integration issues and drive them to a decision.
• Spot risk before it reaches the schedule, bring options with a recommendation, and elevate early and clearly.
• Hold Waabi's technical standards with the partner, adapting to how each OEM works and pushing back credibly when needed.
• Develop and maintain program reporting for Waabi leadership and partner executive forums

Qualifications:

• 8+ years of engineering experience in vehicle development, autonomous vehicles, ADAS or robotics, including 3+ years leading technical integration programs.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical, Electrical, Computer or Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Breadth across actuation and autonomy system integration (sensors, compute, embedded, and software) and the judgment to weigh trade-overs between them.
• Ability to rapidly go deep on a technical issue with engineers, work it to a decision, and return to the program view.
• Solid problem solving using dependency mapping, critical-path analysis and risk management, with clear options for leadership.
• Strong written and verbal communication, equally effective in an OEM executive review and a test-vehicle debug session.
• Comfort with ambiguity and a startup pace: filters signal from noise and adds structure without adding overhead.
• Open-minded and collaborative team player with the willingness to help others.
• Passionate about self-driving technologies, solving hard problems, and creating innovative solutions.

Bonus/nice to have:

• Solid understanding of how vehicle OEMs plan, gate, validate and decide, including vehicle programs, DVP&R, V&V and supplier management.
• Experience with commercial truck or heavy-duty vehicle platforms.
• Hands‑on experience with test vehicles, vehicle networks such as CAN, and field issue triage.
• Experience with program tools such as Jira, and with AI tools that reduce manual tracking.
• Technical experience in developing self-driving vehicles.

Perks/Benefits:

• Competitive compensation and equity awards.
• Health and Wellness benefits encompassing Medical, Dental and Vision coverage (for full-time employees only).
• Unlimited Vacation.
• Flexible hours and Work from Home support.
• Daily drinks, snacks and catered meals (when in office).
• Regularly scheduled team building activities and social events both on-site, off-site & virtually.
• As we grow, this list continues to evolve!

Waabi is a technology start-up building technologies to transform the way the world moves. Join our talented team to be a part of the future and to make an impact!

Waabi is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all our employees. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, age, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, caregiver status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We make workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.