Machine Learning Engineer - Remote

About The Company

Waymo is a pioneering autonomous driving technology company committed to transforming mobility and enhancing safety on the roads. Originating from the Google Self-Driving Car Project launched in 2009, Waymo has established itself as a leader in the development of autonomous vehicle systems. Its flagship product, the Waymo Driver, is designed to provide safe, reliable, and accessible transportation solutions. With over ten million rider-only trips completed and autonomous vehicles having driven more than 100 million miles on public roads across more than 15 states, Waymo continues to push the boundaries of innovation in self-driving technology. The company's mission is to make transportation safer, easier, and more accessible for everyone by leveraging advanced AI and machine learning solutions.

About The Role

Waymo is seeking a highly skilled Staff Machine Learning Engineer specialized in VLM/LLM evaluation to join our AI Foundations team. This role involves leading the development of comprehensive evaluation systems and benchmarks for foundation models used across Waymo's autonomous systems and simulation environments. You will collaborate with a talented team to build state-of-the-art models and ensure their safety, realism, and performance through rigorous testing and evaluation. Your expertise will contribute to advancing our understanding of large-scale generative models, reinforcement learning, and robust AI evaluation methodologies. This hybrid role offers the opportunity to work at the forefront of autonomous driving innovation, partnering across teams to deploy disruptive technologies into production, and shaping the future of safe autonomous mobility.

Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related technical field
• Minimum of 5+ years of experience in ML engineering and applied Deep Learning
• Proven track record with shipped products or a strong publication record in relevant fields
• Experience working with large-scale distributed systems
• Proficient programming skills in Python, C/C++
• Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of end-to-end evaluation systems and benchmarks for Waymo's foundation models, covering pretraining, supervised fine-tuning, and reinforcement learning stages
• Design and implement scalable data pipelines and evaluation frameworks to assess model quality, safety, and realism
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate evaluation tools into production workflows and ensure continuous improvement
• Partner with research and engineering teams to land innovative AI solutions into real-world autonomous driving systems
• Contribute to the advancement of evaluation methodologies for embodied AI agents, generative models, and reinforcement learning algorithms
• Stay current with emerging trends and research in machine learning, generative modeling, and autonomous systems

Benefits

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans
• Life and disability insurance coverage
• Retirement benefits including a 401(k) plan with company matching
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation annually, accruing at 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years
• Sick leave: 40 hours per year (where applicable)
• Maternity and Baby Bonding Leave: up to 30 weeks combined
• 13 paid holidays per year
• Participation in Waymo's discretionary annual bonus and equity incentive plans
• Additional perks and wellness programs designed to support employee growth and well-being

Equal Opportunity

Waymo is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected status. We value diversity and are dedicated to creating a workplace where everyone can thrive and contribute to our mission of advancing autonomous driving technology for a safer future.