Technical Lead Manager, Trucking - Behavior & Planner

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going. Since our start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has been focused on building the World’s Most Experienced Driver in hopes of improving the world's access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. Our Waymo Driver powers Waymo One, our fully autonomous ride-hailing service, as well as Waymo Via, our trucking and local delivery service. To date, Waymo has driven over 20 million miles autonomously on public roads across 25 U.S. cities and conducted over 20 billion miles of simulation testing.

As Waymo is becoming a multi-product company, Trucking is our second largest opportunity and will see massive growth in 2020/2021. We believe that commercial trucking, the backbone of our economy, stands to reap untold benefits by deploying autonomous trucks, particularly during long-haul stretches. Roads will be safer. Goods will be cheaper. Truckers will be called upon to use their skills in new ways while the truck itself becomes a trusted navigation partner. 

In this role, you'll be working with a small but rapidly growing team, benefitting from shared technology of the greater Waymo and Alphabet organizations. Our team is made up of robotics specialists from some of the leading technology companies of our time - with deep expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and real-world deployment of advanced technology.

We are looking for a strong Technical Lead who is curious and passionate about Level 4 autonomous trucking.

In this leadership role, you’ll:

• Lead a team of software engineers that builds self driving capabilities for the most challenging situations a truck might encounter, for example, navigating active freeway construction sites
• Guide all technical aspects of development, including technical requirements definition, design, implementation, unit testing, and integration
• Act as a sounding board and technical architect for your teams, help define technical vision and strategy
• Work closely with engineering partners and stakeholders to drive organizational alignment
• Work cross-functionally across Waymo’s Planning, Perception, Research and Simulation teams to drive new features to completion

At a minimum we’d like you to have:

• Must have a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics or similar technical field of study
• Experience leading engineering projects across multiple teams
• Experience building and architecting large-scale, production quality systems
• Strong written and verbal communications 
• Experience in Python and/or C++

It’s preferred if you have: 

• Experience in the Self Driving Car industry or Robotics
• Strong technical leadership, including experience leading complex infra projects

Note: The following is only applicable for roles hired in the US. As we keep the safety of our employees and our communities top of mind, COVID-19 vaccinations continue to be a critical prevention measure to help end the pandemic.  Because of this, Waymo requires all US-based employees who perform work onsite for Waymo to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.  If you are unable to be vaccinated due to a disability, medical condition or religious belief, Waymo will provide a reasonable accommodation consistent with federal, state, and local law.