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.
You will:
• Define and drive the global architectural roadmap for Waymo's Data Lake, governing the transition from ad-hoc processing to a production-grade, highly scalable analytical ecosystem.
• Serve as the ultimate Tech Lead (TL) over cross-domain data pipelines, governing dependencies and maintaining platform consistency across both centralized infrastructure and embedded product domains.
• Champion and enforce linear DAG architectures and modern Lakehouse/Medallion standards to untangle highly coupled, opaque "spaghetti" lineage.
• Chair centralized Data Design Review forums, establishing unified standards for modularized code, testing suite enforcement, DAG dependency registration, and environmentalization.
• Architect common, self-service frameworks and "Managed Pipeline Services" (like hardened wrappers and templates) for downstream consumption by Data Engineers and Product Data Scientists.
• Oversee core integration strategies for Data Governance, ensuring privacy (GDPR), access Control (IAM/RBAC), and pipeline compliance are deeply baked into core architecture.
You have:
• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent.
• 12+ years of experience leading the design, implementation, and operations of multi-Petabyte Data Lake/Data Warehouse solutions in high-growth companies.
• Proven track record of being the Lead Architect driving significant data governance and data platform maturity transitions (e.g., ad-hoc ➔ standardized).
• Deep experience driving a data infrastructure org through rapid growing phrase, effectively balancing speed for analysts with central governance guardrails.
• Expert-level technical depth in distributed batch/streaming frameworks (e.g., C++, Flume, Apache Spark, Flink).
• Highly effective cross-functional influencer; capable of driving alignment across hundreds of Stakeholders (Director+ levels, Embedded Eng, Data Science).
We prefer:
• Hands-on knowledge of cloud-native or internal release hardening ecosystems (e.g., Canary/CAS, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration).
• High proficiency with Google-internal pipeline/data stacks (Flume, SQLP, Rapid, CAS, F1).
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.
Skills Required
- BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience
- 12+ years of experience leading the design, implementation, and operations of multi-petabyte data lake or data warehouse solutions
- Proven experience as a lead architect driving data governance and data platform maturity transitions
- Experience leading a data infrastructure organization through rapid growth while balancing analyst speed and governance
- Expert-level technical depth in distributed batch and streaming frameworks such as C++, Flume, Apache Spark, and Flink
- Ability to influence and align hundreds of stakeholders, including directors, embedded engineers, and data scientists
- Hands-on knowledge of cloud-native or internal release-hardening ecosystems, CI/CD pipelines, and container orchestration
- High proficiency with Google-internal pipeline and data stacks including Flume, SQLP, Rapid, CAS, and F1
Waymo Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Waymo and has not been reviewed or approved by Waymo.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered strong for full‑time technical roles, aligning with top‑tier AV/Big Tech benchmarks. Employer materials also emphasize competitive pay with eligibility for bonuses and equity as part of total rewards.
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Healthcare Strength — Coverage spans medical, dental, vision, mental‑health resources, onsite wellness centers, and counseling, with specialized programs such as menopause and transgender medical advocacy. Dependents are included, indicating depth across core health needs.
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Parental & Family Support — Offerings include fertility and family‑forming assistance, parental and baby‑bonding leave, caregiver and elder‑care support, and backup childcare. These programs are positioned to support families through multiple life stages.
Waymo Insights
What We Do
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around. With the Waymo Driver, we can improve the world’s mobility while saving thousands of lives. Waymo reaches out to candidates from official channels only (e.g. directly from @waymo.com email addresses, or through our recruiters or sourcers who are noted as such on LinkedIn). We do not contact candidates about career opportunities through instant messaging apps like Telegram, email addresses from domains other than waymo.com (such as Gmail addresses), direct messages on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or text messages. Visit waymo.com to check out our official job listings.
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