Product Quality Engineer

Waymo Autonomous Driving Technology Company

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.

Hardware Engineering is an innovative and collaborative group of electrical, mechanical, reliability, software and vehicle engineers. We design, build, and perfect the products which are the eyes and ears of Waymo's autonomous driving technology, and integrate those products into vehicle platforms. We're seeking curious and talented teammates to keep us moving in the right direction.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule and reports to the Product Quality Engineering Manager.

Responsibilities

• Champions the quality within the product development team and facilitates the use of design methodologies to ensure products are functional, of high quality, reliable, and meet product specifications.
• Ensure that the product design process, including activities like DFMEA, design reviews, DFM (Design for Manufacturing), and DFx, meets quality standards and results in a high-quality product.
• Define and implement quality standards, establish and enforce quality specifications for product development, materials, and manufacturing processes. Develop and implement quality plans for new and existing projects, adhering to APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) and PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) methodologies. Innovate as needed to maintain robust quality for new products.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and other teams during product development to develop detailed quality plans, address quality issues, implement corrective actions, conduct process audits and product inspections to verify compliance with internal and external quality standards and requirements and improve product quality.
• Drive quality and reliability for advanced semiconductor components (SoCs, GPUs, AI accelerators, high-speed memory) and their interaction within the compute module. Partner with firmware and system software teams to ensure hardware/software interface quality, including robust boot sequences, error detection/correction mechanisms, and on-board diagnostics specific to the compute subsystem's health and integrity.
• Develop and implement comprehensive quality plans and test strategies to validate the compute module's functional performance, power and thermal management, and high-speed data interfaces under worst-case operational and environmental stress conditions. Analyze data from early development tests, reliability tests, production and field data to identify issues and report to drive improvements and incorporate any lessons learned into the Compute PDP.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• 7+ years of experience in product development in quality/design engineering in the automotive/electronic industry in ECU/Compute modules
• Strong experience in automotive product development & quality management
• Proficiency in core quality tools and methodologies: APQP, PPAP, FMEA, MSA (Measurement System Analysis), SPC (Statistical Process Control), DOE and 8D problem-solving
• Experience with data analysis, statistical tools, and quality control systems
• Excellent communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Electrical, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to leverage data forensics for resolving complex manufacturing assembly quality issues
• Demonstrated experience in one or more of the following areas: New Product Introduction, Design Engineering, or Manufacturing Operations in consumer electronics
• Strong understanding of electronic assembly processes. & Solid grasp of statistical analysis and production control processes
• Proficient in data analysis and interpretation
• Experience collaborating with international contract manufacturers in mass production, including travel to manufacturing sites
• Highly motivated self-starter with innovative thinking, integrity, and meticulous attention to detail

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 $210,000—$267,000 USD