Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology. Our advanced AI software and foundation models enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any complex environment, enhancing the usability and safety of automated driving systems.
Our vision is to create autonomy that propels the world forward. Our intelligent, mapless, and hardware-agnostic AI products are designed for automakers, accelerating the transition from assisted to automated driving.
In our fast-paced environment big problems ignite us—we embrace uncertainty, leaning into complex challenges to unlock groundbreaking solutions. We aim high and stay humble in our pursuit of excellence, constantly learning and evolving as we pave the way for a smarter, safer future.
At Wayve, your contributions matter. We value diversity, embrace new perspectives, and foster an inclusive work environment; we back each other to deliver impact.
Make Wayve the experience that defines your career!
The role
Wayve is building the AI Driver to power autonomous mobility at global scale. We have launched in London, are preparing for Tokyo and are building toward the US — and none of it scales without fleet operations. Our fleet operations run through a network of external partners who deliver vehicle operations and driving data collection across the UK, Germany, Japan and the US, and that network has grown quickly.
We are hiring a Strategic Partnership Manager to take global ownership of this partner network. You will own the relationships, the commercial terms and the performance standards, decide who we work with next, and build the operating model that lets the network scale. You will also be the fleet operations partnership expert our Robotaxi teams turn to as those services grow. This is a newly created role with real commercial accountability and high visibility across Fleet Operations, Safety, Legal, Finance and company leadership.
Key responsibilities
- Own end-to-end relationships with the external partners who deliver Wayve’s fleet operations across the UK, Germany, Japan and the US — building trust with partner leadership, navigating disagreements and leading major partner changes
- Act as the primary link between regional Fleet Operations leads and partners, resolving performance, capacity and operating-model issues
- Own contract negotiations, commercial terms, renewals and contractual compliance, and lead recurring partner reviews covering hiring, training, KPIs and operations
- Scan the market, source and evaluate new partners, and bring diligence and proposals to leadership for decision
- Lead partner onboarding, transitions and offboarding, ensuring operational continuity and carrying learnings across markets
- Build the global playbook and performance framework for fleet operations partnerships, and support internal change initiatives that depend on partner alignment
- Provide partnership and commercial support to our Robotaxi operations teams on fleet-related topics as our services scale
About you
In order to set you up for success as a Strategic Partnership Manager at Wayve, we’re looking for the following skills and experience.
Essential
- Strong ownership mindset, with a proven track record of managing strategic partnerships or outsourced/vendor relationships end-to-end and clear commercial accountability for the outcome
- Experience negotiating commercial terms and contracts, and holding partners to KPIs or SLAs — including when performance slips
- Operational depth: you have managed partners who deliver a frontline operational workforce, and you are credible on hiring ramp, training, utilisation and quality
- Comfortable operating across multiple markets and time zones, building trust with partners and stakeholders in different cultures and operating models
- Able to bring structure and momentum to fast-moving, ambiguous situations, particularly where a partner network has outgrown its operating model
- A credible internal partner to operations leaders — you work through them rather than around them
Desirable
- 6+ years in strategic partnerships, vendor or outsourcing management, mobility or operations roles
- Experience in mobility, autonomy, logistics or another highly operational or regulated industry
- Experience managing partners in Germany, Japan and/or the US
- Experience standing up a partnership operating model or playbook from scratch
Wayve is committed to creating an inclusive interview experience. If you require any accommodations or adjustments to participate fully in our interview process, please let us know.
We understand that everyone has a unique set of skills and experiences and that not everyone will meet all of the requirements listed above. If you’re passionate about self-driving cars and think you have what it takes to make a positive impact on the world, we encourage you to apply.
At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.
For more information visit Careers at Wayve.
To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve
For US candidates only, please visit E-Verify Notice and Participation and Right to Work
DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.
Skills Required
- Proven experience managing strategic partnerships or outsourced/vendor relationships end-to-end with commercial accountability
- Experience negotiating commercial terms and contracts
- Experience managing partner KPIs or SLAs, including addressing performance issues
- Experience managing partners that deliver a frontline operational workforce
- Knowledge of hiring ramp, training, utilization, and quality management
- Ability to operate across multiple markets and time zones and work across cultures
- Ability to structure and manage ambiguous, fast-moving operational situations
- Ability to collaborate effectively with operations leaders
- 6+ years in strategic partnerships, vendor or outsourcing management, mobility, or operations roles
- Experience in mobility, autonomy, logistics, or another highly operational or regulated industry
- Experience managing partners in Germany, Japan, or the United States
- Experience creating a partnership operating model or playbook from scratch
Wayve Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Wayve and has not been reviewed or approved by Wayve.
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Healthcare Strength — Private healthcare and access to therapy via Spill are part of the standard package. This indicates robust health support within the core offering.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid vacation, public holidays, and additional leave programs are explicitly listed. This breadth of time away supports work–life balance expectations.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Cash plus equity is standard in offers at this growth stage. This provides ownership alongside salary with perceived upside tied to company momentum.
Wayve Insights
What We Do
We're Wayve, a leading developer of embodied intelligence for autonomous vehicles. We use AI to pioneer a next-generation approach to self-driving: AV2.0, which enables fleet operators to unlock the benefits of AV technology at scale. Founded in 2017, Wayve is made up of a diverse team of experts in machine learning and robotics. We were the first to deploy AVs on public roads with end-to-end deep learning. Today, our teams are based in London and California, and we're testing AVs in cities across the UK. Inspired by our vision for a smarter, safer, more sustainable world, we're looking for people who are passionate about building breakthrough solutions to some of the world’s most important challenges. If you're looking for an exciting opportunity with a dynamic team, get in touch!
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