Software Engineer / Data Scientist, Planner Evaluation Driving Sets
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 Waymo Driver—The World’s Most Experienced Driver™—to improve everyone'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.
At Waymo, we are mission-driven and believe deeply in the opportunity of autonomous driving technology to improve mobility and make people's lives better. We are united by purpose and responsibility (for our employees and riders alike). We are looking for kind, committed, employees who have integrity, dream big, work together as one team and create a sense of belonging for one another that is the foundation of our culture. We want each team member to feel welcomed and included in every step of our exciting journey.
The Simulation Organization enables Waymo to simulate and analyze millions of miles of driving every day. We can recreate, modify, and amplify our real-world experience -- or generate entirely new situations from scratch. We work with teams across Waymo, enabling the rapid iterations in advancing self-driving technology. Our work was recently featured in The Atlantic - "Inside Waymo's Secret World for training Self-Driving Cars". As powerful as this system is, however, there are still many open problems to solve and much work ahead of us.
Role Description
As a Software Engineer on the Driver Understanding and Evaluation team, you will work to understand and measure the performance and safety of our Waymo Driver, which is key to unlocking scale. Large scale experimentation and data driven decision making in autonomous driving has unique challenges - the long tail behavior matters more than the average case. Discovering and recreating the long tail is hard, and experimentation via real-world driving does not scale.
We are building Machine Learning models that represent and understand the world we drive in, and executing experimentation via large-scale realistic simulation. If you have a background in working on complex high-quality systems, and enjoy Machine Learning, Data Mining, experimentation and metric design, we’d like to meet you!
Responsibilities
- Seamlessly integrate logged data replay and simulated agents
- Quantify the performance and safety characteristics of the Waymo Driver
- Filter and mine large scale simulated data to detect the most interesting issues
- Build reliable and scalable infrastructure services that enable us to use simulation in new ways
- Automate with deep learning or streamline manual triage processes performed by a large team of operators
- Design car, cyclist or pedestrian agents that interact in realistic ways with the Waymo Driver
- Generate simulations that target specific challenges
- Accelerate onboard software development with improved tools and visualization
Minimum Qualifications
- A BS or MS in Computer Science or a similar discipline, or equivalent industry experience
- Experience with C++ or Python (or a willingness to learn)
- A proven background navigating a large code base
- Passion for Self Driving Cars and the future of sustainable transportation
Preferred Qualifications
- Interest and/or experience with data labeling or Machine Learning data
- Full stack web development experience (frontend and backend)
- Experience learning from - and optimizing for - external users
- Experience in Machine Learning modeling or AV simulation, especially TensorFlow
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.
While at Waymo, you will enjoy benefits that cover…
Health and wellness: Our people are at the heart of everything we do. At Waymo, you can enjoy top-notch medical, dental and vision insurance, mental wellness support, a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), a Health Saving Account (HSA), on-site physicians and/or nurses in some locations, and special wellness programs.
Financial wellness: Your financial peace of mind is important to us. At Waymo, we offer competitive compensation, bonus opportunities, equity, a generous 401(k) plan or regional retirement plans, 1-on-1 financial coaching, a 529 College Savings Plan and lots of other perks and employee discounts.
Flexibility and time off: Take the time you need to relax and recharge. Enjoy the flexibility to work from another location for four weeks per year. We support an on-site, hybrid work model and offer remote working opportunities, paid time off, Waymo recharge days, bereavement, sick, and parental leave.
Supporting families: When it comes to growing your family or caring for your loved ones, you have our full support. Enhanced leave options include paid parental leave (birthing parent gets 24 weeks of paid leave, and non-birthing parent gets 18 weeks of paid leave), and 20 subsidized days of backup childcare or adult/elder care. Access to fertility care or adoption support as you grow your family.
Community and personal development: At Waymo, you’ll find a range of opportunities to grow, connect, and give back. We offer education tuition reimbursement, personal and professional development, mentorship, and other ways to connect through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), other internal groups, and even time off to volunteer.
Cool perks: Access to Google offices, cafes, wellness centers, personal training sessions, massages, haircuts, bike repairs, office transportation, commuter benefits and so much more. To support your wellbeing at home, you can enjoy at-home fitness and cooking classes, and more.
* Please note that while our benefits philosophy is the same in every place Waymonauts work, benefits may vary by office/country and are subject to eligibility requirements.
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, Waymo will provide a reasonable accommodation consistent with applicable law.