Staff Systems Engineer, Hardware Architecture

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 a diverse, 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 you will report to a Systems Architect

You will:

• Lead and conduct complex, multi-attribute trade studies to define the architecture of the next-generation Waymo Driver, balancing performance, reliability, cost, and other key factors

• Develop and analyze architectural options for the overall Self-Driving System, with a strong emphasis on safety via robust fallback systems and high reliability

• Collaborate with and drive alignment across diverse engineering teams (Software, Hardware, Sensing, Compute, Safety, Reliability) to make holistic and informed architectural decisions

• Define key system interfaces and behaviors, ensuring a cohesive and well-integrated system design

• Create and present clear and compelling technical recommendations to senior leadership and stakeholders, justifying architectural choices with data and analysis

• Work closely with systems engineering to decompose architectural decisions into clear requirements for subsystem development

• Manage and guide architectural change across current and future SDS generations, ensuring consistency and a clear evolution path

You have:

• A bachelor's degree in Engineering (e.g., EE, ME, CS, Aerospace) or a related technical field

• 5+ years of experience in systems architecture, systems engineering, or complex system design, preferably in autonomous vehicles, aerospace, or robotics

• Proven ability to lead and execute complex technical trade studies involving multiple disciplines and competing objectives

• Strong understanding of the underlying principles for design for high availability and safety-critical applications

• Deep understanding of autonomous system components and their functionality in at least one major area (Sensing, Compute, Software, Networking/ interconnections, Cleaning)

• Exceptional cross-functional communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority

We prefer:

• Experience with functional safety (ISO 26262) and SOTIF (ISO 21448)

• Experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools and methodologies (e.g., SysML)

• Knowledge of reliability engineering analysis techniques (e.g., FMEA, FTA, Weibull analysis)

• Experience with performance modeling and simulation of complex 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 $230,000—$284,000 USD