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Waymo

2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Software/ML Engineer, Simulation

Waymo is hiring a 2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Software/ML Engineer, Simulation in Mountain View, United States. It pays $70/hr and Level rates it ; you can apply on Waymo.

Level's read on this job

  • Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this machine learning engineer role: the job is building AI systems.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include Python, C and SQL.
  • Level classifies it as an internship.
  • Level lists 365 other open roles at Waymo.

AI in this role

Design multimodal data pipelines and prototype Vision-Language Model workflows for autonomous driving simulation at Waymo.

PythonCSQL
prompt-engineeringcomputer-visionmachine-learningsimulationdata-pipelinesvision-language-models

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.

Waymo interns partner with leaders in the industry on projects that create impact to the company. We believe learning is a two-way street: applying your knowledge while providing you with opportunities to expand your skill-set. Interns are an important part of our culture and our recruiting pipeline. Join us at Waymo for a fun and rewarding internship!

You will:

  • Design and build multimodal data pipelines in Python or C++ that combine vehicle sensor data (camera, LiDAR) and 3D map data for machine learning models
  • Prototype and iterate on Vision-Language Model (VLM) workflows to automatically detect and categorize complex real-world driving scenarios and road changes
  • Build ground-truth evaluation datasets, measure model precision and recall, and systematically improve detection accuracy
  • Integrate automated labeling pipelines into data storage and simulation testing workflows

You have:

  • Currently pursuing a MS or PhD in a quantitative or technical field (such as Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, or a related area)
  • Strong programming skills in Python or C++
  • Experience with data analysis, SQL, and basic statistics

We prefer:

  • Experience with computer vision, Vision-Language Models (VLMs), or prompt engineering
  • Familiarity with 3D geometry, coordinate transforms, or sensor data processing
  • Experience working with large-scale datasets or distributed data pipelines

Note: This will be a hybrid onsite internship position. We will accept resumes on a rolling basis until the role is filled. To be in consideration for multiple roles, you will need to apply to each one individually - please apply to the top 3 roles you are interested in.

The expected hourly rate for this full-time position is listed below. Interns are also eligible to participate in the Company’s generous benefits programs, subject to eligibility requirements.Hourly Masters Pay$70—$70 USDThe expected hourly rate for this full-time position is listed below. Interns are also eligible to participate in the Company’s generous benefits programs, subject to eligibility requirements.Hourly PhD Pay$85—$85 USD

How we rate this

2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Software/ML Engineer, Simulation at Waymo rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Prompt engineeringComputer visionMachine learningSimulationData PipelinesVision Language ModelsPythonC

Also common in machine learning engineer jobs at this level

Pay

Typical machine learning engineer job
$198k

Use the typical machine learning engineer figure as a reference when pay comes up. See machine learning engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. How do you structure and test a prompt to get consistent output from a language model?
  2. Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
  3. Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where simulation was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where data pipelines was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Prompt engineering, Computer vision, Machine learning, Simulation, and Data Pipelines. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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