Staff Software Engineer, Route and Pin Quality

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 Engineering builds the brains of Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology. Our software allows the Waymo Driver to perceive the world around it, make the right decision for every situation, and deliver people safely to their destinations. We think deeply and solve complex technical challenges in areas like robotics, perception, decision-making and deep learning, while collaborating with hardware and systems engineers. If you’re a software engineer or researcher who’s curious and passionate about Level 4 autonomous driving, we'd like to meet you.

You will:

• Design, build, and productionize machine learning models and systems to improve route and pin quality (e.g., difficulty models, ETA, Pin Ranking models). Identify and scope new opportunities to apply ML to solve complex problems in routing and pin selection.


• Develop and maintain data pipelines for training and evaluating ML models, leveraging Waymo's extensive driving data and user feedback.


• Contribute to the full software development lifecycle, including system design, C++ implementation, testing, and deployment.


• Analyze large datasets to identify opportunities for improvement and measure the impact of your work.


• Collaborate closely with other engineers, data scientists, product managers, and a variety of onboard and offboard teams (e.g., Planner, TaaS, Pullover).


• Provide technical leadership, set direction for critical ML projects, and mentor junior team members.


• Drive improvements in evaluation infrastructure and metrics to ensure high-quality launches.

You have:

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


• 7+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience in designing and building production-grade systems.


• Proven experience (3+ years) in developing and deploying machine learning models in real-world applications.


• Strong proficiency in C++ and experience working in a production Linux environment.


• Demonstrated ability to work with large datasets, including data extraction, analysis, and feature engineering (e.g., using SQL/Plx).


• Experience leading complex technical projects, including scoping, design, and execution across multiple quarters.


• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguous requirements.


• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.

We prefer:

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.


• Experience with Google infrastructure such as Flume, Borg, and TensorFlow.


• Familiarity with Waymo's software stack, tools, and evaluation infrastructure (e.g., Analyzers, RQS).


• Experience with ML techniques for ranking, recommendation systems, or learning from user preferences.


• Experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or geospatial systems.


• Track record of influencing technical direction and strategy.

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

$238,000—$302,000 USD