Machine Learning Engineer, Prediction & Planning

Job Summary

The Predictive Planning team (PrePlan) at Waymo is seeking a skilled Machine Learning Engineer to develop and deploy state-of-the-art machine learning solutions that predict the future state of the world and plan the Waymo Driver’s behavior. This role involves working on open-ended real-world challenges and collaborating with world-class researchers, engineers, and product owners to ensure safe and efficient planning behaviors for all road users.

Responsibilities

• Develop the next-generation ML-powered prediction and planning system to enhance the performance and capabilities of the ML driver and support the rapid scaling of Waymo’s business.
• Frame open-ended, real-world challenges as well-defined ML problems and research, develop, and apply cutting-edge ML techniques, including foundation models and reinforcement learning, for the planning and prediction tasks of autonomous vehicles.
• Collaborate with world-class researchers, engineers, and product owners to create safe, smooth planning behaviors for all road users and to meet product requirements.
• Develop and evaluate large models, and integrate them into Waymo’s production planning software for real-world applications through close partnership with the Planner and Research teams.

Requirements

• BS in Computer Science, ML, Robotics, or a related field of study with 2+ years of experience in Machine Learning modeling and/or Autonomous Vehicles.
• Demonstrated contributions to the ML community through publications, open-source projects, or significant industry impact.
• Hands-on experience with modern deep learning libraries (e.g., TensorFlow, JAX, Pytorch).
• Proficient programming skills (e.g., Python, C/C++).
• Strong analytical and debugging skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field.
• Publications in top-tier conferences such as ICML, NeurIPS, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, IROS, CoRL, ACL, or EMNLP.
• General software engineering experience solving motion planning or related robotics problems.
• Experience applying or evaluating ML-based systems in production environments.
• Experience with performance optimization of deep models, including with respect to specific hardware architectures.

Benefits

Waymo offers a competitive salary range of $175,000—$215,000 USD across US locations, with actual starting pay based on job-related factors. 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.