Staff Software Engineer, Quantitative Evaluation

Job Summary

The Planner Evaluation team at Waymo is seeking experienced data-minded software engineers and data scientists to develop and refine metrics for evaluating the Waymo Driver. This role involves using a variety of techniques including statistics, math, physics, algorithms, and machine learning to measure and improve the quality of the software that drives the car.

About the Role

The Planner Evaluation team works on one of the key challenges in autonomous driving: measuring and improving the quality of the software that drives the car. You will be part of a dynamic team that uses simulation and real-world driving logs to assess driving performance and make connections between software changes and simulated outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Develop signals to measure the performance and driving qualities of the Waymo driver, using a range of techniques including statistics, math, physics, algorithms, and machine learning.
• Use simulation creatively and mine real world driving logs to measure driving performance.
• Design and implement methods to make a stronger connection between onboard software changes and simulated outcomes.
• Champion code health and best practices in a large and complex code base.
• Analyze data and make recommendations on how to improve metric quality and interpretability.
• Collaborate with other engineers, data scientists, statisticians, and the leadership team to deliver evaluation products and help make data-driven decisions.
• Quickly prove out the efficacy of added coverage, and strive to hand off solutions in a robust way for customer teams to own their own evaluation.

Requirements

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Statistics, Physics, Math, or another quantitative area.
• Strong self-motivation to navigate complex systems and pursue open-ended problems to completion.
• Willingness to move quickly between verticals for different internal customers. Work is more likely to be short projects rather than protected 6+ month efforts.
• 5+ years of industry experience with:
• Navigating and modifying a large code base containing a variety of languages, such as C++, Python, and SQL.
• Performing statistical analyses.
• Building data processing pipelines.
• Writing, reviewing, and merging code following industry standards for code health and maintainability.
• Quantitative/data fluency is a top requirement.

Preferred

• Experience coding in C++.
• Experience with ML.
• Experience with A/B experiment infrastructure.
• Experience building and validating metrics to measure quality in complex systems.
• Exposure to ad-hoc data analysis tools for rapid modeling and prototyping.

Qualifications

• Experience working in the AV industry.

Pay

The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is $251,000—$310,000 USD. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level.