Software Engineer Backend - Simulation

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.

The  Simulator Team at Waymo builds state-of-the-art simulations of realistic environments for testing and training the Waymo Driver. Our team is a diverse, and collaborative group of software engineers, machine learning (ML) engineers, and data scientists. We develop industry-leading simulation solutions using advanced ML algorithms that measure and enhance the performance of the Waymo Driver. We develop industry-leading simulation solutions using advanced ML algorithms that measure and enhance the performance of the Waymo Driver. We achieve those goals by jointly modeling the real world, including realistic agents (vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists), roads, traffic control systems, and weather conditions, and the full sensor suite including camera, Lidar and radars.

In this hybrid role, you will report to a Senior Engineering Manager.  

You will:

• Design and develop C++ software systems and infrastructure for our realistic world generation platform and its integration in downstream Waymo applications


• Work closely with simulation, onboard, system engineers and data science on features to enable critical Waymo milestones


• Monitor and improve the performance, scalability, testing, and the reliability of the platform


• Work with other engineers to design the long-term architecture of the system

You have:

• BS or MS in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent 


• Strong professional experience developing modern C++ production software 


• 5+ years of solid coding and design skills


• 5+ years of experience with backend technologies, workflows, databases, and production monitoring


• Ability to solve open-ended technical challenges 


• Excellent collaboration and communication skills

We prefer:

• Working experience with ML and Generative AI models


• Some experience with large-scale data processing using frameworks like Google Data Flow or Apache Beam


• Experience with the release of software in a highly distributed heterogeneous execution environment


• Some experience developing metrics


• Experience with developing user-facing APIs and interfaces between different components

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

$204,000 - $259,000 USD