System Safety Engineer, Operations & Fleet Response

Waymo; Kirkland (WA); Hybrid; USD 196,000 - 248,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off: 20 days

Job summary

Waymo is seeking a Senior System Safety Engineer to lead cross‑functional safety analyses, identify hazards, assess risks, and define safety requirements across hardware, software, and operations. The role also involves guiding mitigations and verification plans and ensuring regulatory compliance within a hybrid work environment.

Requirements include a BS in a relevant engineering field, 7+ years of engineering experience with at least 5 years in System Safety, and strong project management.

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical/Mechatronics/Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields
• Strong project management skills with ability to manage multiple parallel projects
• 7+ years of engineering work experience including a minimum of 5 years in System Safety engineering
• Proficiency in inductive/deductive safety analyses to identify hazards and risk levels
• Proficiency in Systems Engineering principles, SMART mitigations/requirements, and verification methods
• Extensive background in risk management and aligning risk‑based decisions with stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Lead cross‑functional efforts to perform safety analyses, identify hazards, assess risks, define safety requirements, and support mitigations
• Participate in hardware, software, and operations design reviews to ensure safety mitigations are addressed
• Provide guidance on adoption of relevant safety standards and best practices, ensuring compliance with regulations
• Evaluate continued effectiveness of risk controls and identify new hazards
• Lead in defining and improving System Safety processes and promote safety culture
• Integrate System Safety Methodology with other Waymo safety framework components

Skills

System Safety engineering

Risk management

Systems Engineering

Project management

Safety analyses

Education

Bachelor of Science in Electrical/Mechatronics/Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields

Master’s or PhD preferred

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 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 Waymo Safety team works to promote and continuously improve the safety of Waymo’s fully autonomous driving technology. Our experts develop safety goals and strategies, and conduct safety engineering analyses to ensure safety is considered throughout the design and development of our vehicles. The team develops and promotes safety strategies and policies for autonomous vehicles, working with regulatory authorities, lawmakers, law enforcement, and public and non‑profit organizations. Our Safety Team also helps advise on compliance with applicable environmental, health, and safety regulations.

In this hybrid role, you will report into one of our System Safety Leads.

You will

• Lead cross‑functional efforts to perform safety analyses and identify potential hazards and their causes, assess safety risks (qualitatively and quantitatively), support the definition of safety requirements, inform design decisions, propose mitigations, and support verification strategies.
• Participate in hardware, software, and operations design and readiness reviews and discussions to help ensure that safety mitigations and requirements are addressed and that the safety mitigations are working effectively in the field.
• Provide guidance on the adoption and adaptation of relevant safety standards and industry best practices, and help ensure Waymo and its partners comply with relevant safety regulations.
• Evaluate the continued effectiveness of implemented risk‑control strategies; support the identification of new hazards.
• Provide leadership in defining, implementing, and improving relevant System Safety processes while promoting our safety culture inside Waymo.
• Provide leadership in integrating the System Safety Methodology with other methodologies of the Waymo safety framework.

You have

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical/Mechatronics/Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields.
• Strong technical project management skills with the ability to manage multiple parallel projects.
• 7+ years of relevant engineering work experience that includes a minimum of 5 years of System Safety engineering.
• Proficiency in selecting and performing appropriate inductive/deductive safety analyses to efficiently identify hazards and their level of risk.
• Proficiency in applying Systems Engineering principles, including defining SMART safety mitigations/requirements and collaborating on effective verification and validation methods.
• Extensive background in risk management and aligning risk‑based decisions with stakeholders.

We prefer

• A master’s or PhD in Electrical/Mechatronics/Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields.
• Experience in complex, safety‑critical fleet operations and the impact on hardware, software, and system design.

Travel

• Ability to travel approximately 5% of the time.

Benefits

• 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 per year (statutory, where applicable); 5 days per 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 U.S. 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.

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: $196,000 – $248,000 USD