Waymo logo
Waymo Verified
Autonomous Vehicles, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Automotive

Senior Systems Engineer, Fault Protection

Mountain View, California, United StatesHybridFull TimeSenior$196,000–$242,000 /yrPosted 2 months agoVisa sponsorship available

Is this role right for you?

Upload your resume and get a skill-by-skill breakdown — see exactly where you match, where you're close, and what to highlight. Not a mystery percentage.

Get a tailored resume highlighting what this role needs.

Role summary

Waymo is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer, Fault Protection to join their Systems Engineering team. This hybrid role involves advancing the Waymo Driver's fault mitigation capabilities by developing and owning requirements and V&V plans for mission-critical software systems. You will analyze complex subsystem interactions, conduct trade studies, and lead cross-functional projects. The ideal candidate has a BS degree in a technical field, 5+ years of experience in aerospace, robotics, or automotive industries, strong systems engineering fundamentals, and basic data analysis skills. Preferred qualifications include experience with autonomous vehicles and strong test planning/execution.

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.

Waymo's Systems Engineering team works together to blend software and hardware systems in groundbreaking new ways. We set the high performance standards that ensure our vehicles run smoothly and keep passengers safe, then design and perform the tests that validate that performance. We're looking for talented teammates who’ll help us maintain strong teamwork and are passionate about driving results.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule and you will report to a Systems Engineering Manager.

You will:

  • Advance the Waymo Driver’s capabilities to safely mitigate diverse fault conditions in support of Waymo’s continued expansion
  • Develop and own comprehensive requirements and verification & validation plans for mission critical SW systems and features, ensuring appropriate level of coverage to demonstrably meet product quality & safety goals
  • Dive deep into complex subsystem interactions in the autonomy stack to inform fault mitigation strategies
  • Conduct and use the results of trade studies & investigations to influence cross-functional team priorities/roadmap.
  • Lead projects requiring contributions from multiple cross-functional teams such as SysEng, Safety, Product, SW & HW engineering
  • You have:

  • BS degree in a technical field, such as Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, Math, Physics, or equivalent experience
  • 5+ years of experience, including a background in aerospace, robotics and/or automotive industries, with strong depth of experience in at least one technical area (e.g. motion control, software, sensing, etc.)
  • Proven ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams and help set the technical direction for multiple adjacent engineers to solve technical problems
  • Strong systems engineering fundamentals with demonstrated experience across the full product lifecycle, from concept through transition into operations
  • Basic data analysis and related script development skills (e.g. using Python, SQL, R, MATLAB, or similar
  • We prefer:

  • Strong test planning, execution, troubleshooting and data analysis skills, at the sub-system and full system level
  • Autonomous vehicle or similar experience working on systems with safety-critical hardware and software components
  • Although not the focus of this role, some SW development experience and understanding of SW development processes is helpful
  • 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
    $196,000$242,000 USD

    Sample Waymo interview questions

    • 1

      Design a data ingestion system

      system designmedium
    • 2

      Longest Substring with Two Distinct Characters Find the longest substring with at most two distinct characters. Input: s = "ccaabbb" Output: 5 Explanation: The substring "aabbb" contains exactly two distinct characters and has a maximum length of 5.

      codingmedium
    • 3

      Alien Dictionary Order Derive the alien dictionary order from a sorted list of alien words. Input: words = ["z","x","z"] Output: "" (Empty String) Explanation: The letter 'z' cannot come before 'x' and then suddenly after 'x', creating a cycle and making the dictionary invalid.

      codingmedium
    • 4

      Palindrome After Deleting One Character Determine if a string can be a palindrome after deleting at most one character. Input: s = "abc" Output: FALSE Explanation: Deleting any single character leaves either "ab", "bc", or "ac", none of which result in a valid palindrome.

      codingmedium

    Sign up for a personalized interview prep pack tailored to this role.

    Ready to apply?
    You'll be redirected to Waymo's application page.