Software Engineer, Perception Evaluation

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 Perception Evaluation team at Waymo is at the forefront of autonomous driving, ensuring the reliability and safety of our self-driving technology. We develop and utilize cutting-edge tools and methodologies to rigorously assess the performance of our Perception systems, a critical component for safe and effective autonomous operation. Join us to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of transportation by directly impacting the quality and reliability of Waymo's autonomous vehicles.

You will:

• Develop and Implement Evaluation Tools: Design, code, test, and maintain software components for our perception evaluation pipelines and tools, primarily using C++ and Python.


• Execute Evaluation Workflows: Run and monitor perception evaluation jobs, analyze results, and troubleshoot issues within the evaluation framework to ensure timely and accurate feedback.


• Contribute to Pipeline Enhancements: Identify and implement improvements to our existing evaluation infrastructure for better efficiency, scalability, and reliability.


• Collaborate with the Team: Work closely with other engineers and researchers within the Perception Eval team to understand requirements, contribute to designs, and implement solutions.


• Analyze and Report Findings: Assist in analyzing evaluation results, generating reports, and surfacing key insights to help improve perception system performance.


• Adapt to Evolving Needs: Demonstrate flexibility by tackling varied tasks and contributing to different aspects of the evaluation process as team priorities shift to support Waymo's growth.

You have:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.


• 2+ years of software development experience.


• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python, with a focus on writing clean, efficient, and well-tested code.


• Solid understanding of software engineering principles, data structures, and algorithms.


• Demonstrated ability to turn ideas into working software and a proactive approach to problem-solving.


• Basic understanding of SQL and a willingness to develop skills in data analysis and querying.

Nice to have:

• Familiarity with large-scale data processing or distributed systems.


• Experience with data analysis tools and libraries (e.g., Pandas, Colab) and visualization techniques.


• Exposure to Machine Learning concepts, workflows, or evaluation methods.


• Passion for autonomous vehicle technology or robotics.


• Experience with software development collaboration tools (e.g., Git, code review systems).


• Ability to learn new technologies and tools quickly.

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.

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

$170,000—$216,000 USD