Principal Software Engineer, Onboard Field Response

About the role

About The Company

Waymo is an innovative autonomous driving technology company committed to transforming mobility and enhancing road safety. Originating from the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has dedicated itself to developing the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—aimed at providing reliable, safe, and accessible autonomous transportation solutions. With a focus on reducing traffic-related fatalities and improving transportation access, Waymo's technology powers a fully autonomous ride-hail service and is adaptable across various vehicle platforms and use cases. The company’s fleet has completed over ten million rider-only trips, driven more than 100 million miles on public roads across more than 15 states, and conducted tens of billions of miles in simulation, demonstrating its leadership and commitment to safety and innovation in autonomous driving.

About The Role

The Principal Software Engineer, Onboard Field Response at Waymo plays a pivotal role in ensuring the robustness and reliability of the Waymo Driver system. This leadership position involves overseeing the engineering analysis and response to rare, novel, or unexpected events encountered by the fleet in real-world driving scenarios. The role combines software engineering expertise with principles similar to Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), focusing on maintaining and improving the fleet’s operational resilience. As a key member of the Onboard Software team, you will lead efforts to investigate incidents, develop mitigation strategies, and enhance the onboard software architecture to better handle unforeseen challenges. You will also be responsible for organizing on-call rotations, developing playbooks, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to implement scalable solutions that ensure the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles operating in diverse environments. This hybrid role reports directly to the Head of Planner within the Onboard organization and requires a proactive, hands-on leader passionate about solving complex, first-of-their-kind problems with significant real-world impact.

Qualifications

Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field

10+ years of experience leading large-scale production software systems, especially machine learning systems

5+ years of experience as an organizational leader managing engineering teams and collaborating with cross-functional partners

Proven experience organizing and managing on-call rotations for critical systems

Strong influence and interpersonal skills, capable of driving change without formal authority

Excellent organizational awareness, collaboration skills, and effective communication abilities

Focus on delivering value to the company and engineering teams through innovative solutions

Preferred qualifications include experience leading hybrid hardware/software production systems, managing teams working on modern deep learning models, and a track record of implementing change within large engineering organizations with over 1,000 engineers.

Responsibilities

Organize and participate in on-call rotations to respond effectively to driving issues encountered in the field

Harden onboard software systems, develop comprehensive playbooks, and improve on-call metrics and post-mitigation workflows

Lead engineering investigations and responses to novel, rare, or unexpected fleet events, ensuring timely resolutions

Collaborate with organizational leads and cross-functional teams to enhance large-scale software engineering practices

Contribute to the design and evolution of onboard software architecture to improve robustness, debuggability, and scalability

Identify opportunities to proactively prevent issues and improve system resilience based on field data and incident analysis

Manage additional engineering resources as needed to support ongoing initiatives and incident response efforts

Benefits

Competitive salary package within the range of $349,000 to $431,000 USD, commensurate with experience and location

Participation in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program and equity incentive plan

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance coverage

Generous paid time off and flexible work arrangements to support work-life balance

Opportunities for professional growth and development in a pioneering autonomous vehicle company

Access to innovative projects and the chance to make a tangible impact on transportation safety and accessibility

Equal Opportunity

Waymo is committed to fostering an inclusive environment and equal employment opportunity. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We believe diversity enhances our innovation and strengthens our ability to create safe, reliable autonomous driving solutions for everyone.