Staff Software Engineer (Planner)

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. Software Engineering builds the brains of Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology. Our software allows the Waymo Driver to perceive the world around it, make the right decision for every situation, and deliver people safely to their destinations. We think deeply and solve complex technical challenges in areas like robotics, perception, decision‑making and deep learning, while collaborating with hardware and systems engineers. If you're a software engineer or researcher who's curious and passionate about Level 4 autonomous driving, we'd like to meet you. In this hybrid role, you will report to Technical Lead Manager. You will: Work with a creative team of people who ensure that the behavior of our cars is safe, smooth, and predictable to other road users, which includes gracefully handling many complex situations involving social aspects (merging, negotiating narrow roads), while dealing with noisy, uncertain, and incomplete information. Frame the open‑ended real‑world problems into well‑defined engineering problems; develop tools, algorithms and evaluation mechanisms; scale them to Google‑sized data pipelines; and refine them to run in real‑time on the cars. You have: BS in Computer Science, ML, Robotics, similar technical field of study, or equivalent practical experience 5+ years general software engineering experience programming in C++ with efficient code Experience collaborating with different teams We prefer: MS in Computer Science, ML Robotics, similar technical field of study General software engineering experience solving motion planning or related robotics problems Experience solving or evaluating ML‑based systems 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 $251,000 — $310,000 USD #J-18808-Ljbffr Waymo