Technical Lead Manager, Collision Avoidance Testing
Waymo is hiring a Technical Lead Manager, Collision Avoidance Testing in Mountain View and San Francisco, United States. It pays $230k-$284k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Waymo.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- The posting mentions Python, C and robotics among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a lead role.
- Waymo has 368 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
Lead the collision avoidance behavioral testing team for autonomous vehicles, integrating simulation technology and setting technical direction.
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.
Waymo's Systems Engineering team works together to blend software and hardware systems in groundbreaking new ways. We set the high performance standards that ensure our vehicles run smoothly and keep passengers safe, then design and perform the tests that validate that performance. We're looking for talented teammates who’ll help us maintain strong teamwork and are passionate about driving results.
You will:
- Lead and manage the Behavior Test Engineering’s Collision Avoidance Testing Team, including hiring, setting OKRs, guiding work, and developing your report's careers
- Interface with key stakeholders from Planner, Perception, Systems Engineering and Safety Engineering executives on the Collision Avoidance Testing framework and desired AV behavior
- Work with Waymo’s simulation team on the latest cutting-edge sim technology and how it can be integrated into collision avoidance testing
- Lead technical work — work with your team, and simulation and tooling teams to develop and set the technical direction and architectural guidelines for Waymo's long-tail behavioral testing suite, ensuring it is scalable, maintainable, and extensible
You have:
- A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field
- Strong leadership and communication skills, with experience navigating a critical space
- The ability to lead a technical engineering team and deliver impact while managing the team effectively
- 4+ years of management experience
- 10+ years of industry experience in a related field
- Demonstrated ability to build testing programs that scale
- Basic fluency in Python or C++
We prefer:
- MS or PhD Degree in Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science or a similar discipline
- Strong engineering fundamentals in Physics (mechanics) and/or Computer Science
- Prior AV Experience
- Experience with safety critical systems
- A passion for robotics or autonomous vehicles
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$230,000—$284,000 USDHow we rate this
Technical Lead Manager, Collision Avoidance Testing at Waymo rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ 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
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where robotics was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where simulation was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where testing was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where leadership was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used Python in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Robotics, Simulation, Testing, Leadership, and Python. 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.
- Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.
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