Senior Software Engineer (Inertial Navigation)

TL;DR

Senior Software Engineer (Inertial Navigation): Develop algorithms and production-quality C++ software to fuse inertial, GNSS, and sensor data for accurate state estimation in autonomous vehicles with an accent on robustness and performance across vehicle platforms. Focus on building tools for large-scale data analysis, optimizing sensor models, and establishing performance guarantees using massive real-world driving datasets.

Location: Onsite in Mountain View, California

Salary: $204,000—$259,000 USD

Company

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company building the Waymo Driver for ride-hail services and vehicle platforms, with experience from over 100 million autonomous miles driven.

What you will do

• Develop algorithms to improve accuracy and robustness of core state estimation.
• Engineer and deploy production-quality C++ software fusing inertial, GNSS, and sensor data for vehicle platforms.
• Build tools, pipelines, and evaluation frameworks to assess positioning performance across millions of miles of driving data.
• Conduct large-scale analyses and optimizations using Waymo's datasets to fine-tune sensor models and identify failure root causes.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary engineers to solve technical challenges and maintain high standards.

Requirements

• MS, PhD or equivalent industry experience
• Expertise in state estimation theory: Kalman Filters, particle filters, factor graphs, nonlinear optimization
• Deep understanding of inertial navigation: sensor modeling, IMU error characterization, calibration, multi-sensor fusion with GNSS
• Strong C++ skills for high-quality production code

Nice to have

• Experience in autonomous vehicles, inertial navigation, localization, perception, or sensor fusion
• Computer vision, visual inertial odometry, SLAM, ICP or other sensors
• Tools for large-scale data analysis: SQL, Python (NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib)
• Machine learning for sensor fusion, calibration, or positioning

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative, innovative Hardware Engineering team designing sensors for autonomous driving
• Discretionary annual bonus, equity incentive plan, generous benefits
• Focus on high standards and sharing expertise