Staff Software Engineer (Planner)

TL;DR

Staff Software Engineer (Planner): Developing and optimizing motion planning algorithms for autonomous vehicles with an accent on safe, smooth, and predictable behavior in complex real-world scenarios. Focus on framing open-ended robotics problems into scalable engineering solutions, developing real-time evaluation mechanisms, and processing large-scale data pipelines.

Location: Onsite in Mountain View, CA; San Francisco, CA; or Pittsburgh, PA

Salary: $251,000–$310,000 USD

Company

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company dedicated to building the world's most trusted driver to improve mobility and safety.

What you will do

• Ensure vehicle behavior is safe, smooth, and predictable for all road users.
• Handle complex social driving situations like merging and navigating narrow roads.
• Manage noisy, uncertain, and incomplete information within planning systems.
• Frame real-world challenges into well-defined engineering problems.
• Develop algorithms, tools, and evaluation mechanisms for autonomous systems.
• Scale solutions to handle massive data pipelines and ensure real-time performance on vehicle hardware.

Requirements

• BS in Computer Science, ML, Robotics, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of general software engineering experience.
• Proficiency in C++ with a focus on efficient code.
• Proven experience collaborating across diverse technical teams.

Nice to have

• MS in Computer Science, ML, or Robotics.
• Experience solving motion planning or related robotics problems.
• Experience in solving or evaluating ML-based systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Participation in discretionary annual bonus program.
• Equity incentive plan eligibility.
• Comprehensive company benefits program.
• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge Level 4 autonomous driving technology.