Waymo

Lead Technical Program Manager, Simulation

Waymo$272K — $336K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field or equivalent experience
  • 3+ years of leadership experience managing teams of TPMs or software engineers
  • Proven experience in managing complex technical programs involving Machine Learning platforms
  • History of leading cross-functional programs with a focus on timelines, risks, and dependencies
  • Strong technical judgment influencing strategic technical decisions
  • 10+ years as a Technical Program Manager in software engineering or machine learning environments

Responsibilities

  • Partner with leadership to create and drive the long-term vision for Simulation and ML Evaluation platforms
  • Execute integration of simulation within the ML development loop for model training and evaluation
  • Lead complex, cross-functional programs to enhance evaluation infrastructure with advanced technologies
  • Manage program resourcing, budget, and capacity planning for Simulation and Evaluation
  • Navigate organizational dependencies to partner and align with ENG and Product leadership
  • Build and mentor a high-performing team of Technical Program Managers

Benefits

  • Eligible for discretionary annual bonus program
  • Participation in equity incentive plan
  • Access to a generous Company benefits program
Full Job Description
Waymo's Technical Program Managers and Program Managers are accountable for Waymo's roadmap execution by providing thoughtful cross-functional planning, clarity, and proactive risk management. In the face of complex technical and operational challenges with no established playbooks to follow, we act with thoughtful urgency, driving conversations, discussions, and outcomes. Our team partners closely with every function of Waymo to structure, own and drive work towards real-world deployments of the Waymo Driver across platforms and geographies.

In this hybrid role, you will report to a TPM Director.

You will:
  • Strategic Leadership & Vision: Partner with Simulation, ML Research (AI Foundations), Perception, and Planner leadership to define and drive the long-term vision and strategy for Waymo's Simulation and ML Evaluation platforms
  • ML Platform Integration: Drive the execution of programs that integrate simulation deeply into the ML development loop, establishing a seamless, reliable path for model training, offline evaluation, and validation
  • Transformational Program Delivery: Lead complex, cross-functional programs to platformatize and scale evaluation infrastructure, incorporating ML-based simulation and advanced technologies to accelerate developer velocity
  • Resource & Capacity Optimization: Own program resourcing, budget allocation, and capacity planning for the Simulation and Evaluation domain, forecasting future compute/infrastructure needs and optimizing utilization
  • Influence & Alignment: Navigate ambiguity and manage critical upstream/downstream dependencies across organizational boundaries, serving as a trusted technical partner and sounding board for ENG and Product leadership
  • Team Development & People Management: Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of Technical Program Managers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous professional growth

You have:
  • Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
  • Leadership Experience: 3+ years of experience directly managing and developing teams of TPMs or software engineers
  • ML Domain Expertise: Proven track record of managing complex technical programs involving the Machine Learning platforms (data pipelines, training, evaluation frameworks, or ML infrastructure)
  • Program Scale: Experience leading transformational, cross-functional programs end-to-end, with a history of managing timelines, risks, and dependencies across senior stakeholders
  • Technical Judgment: Strong technical judgment with the ability to contribute to strategic technical direction, analyze architectural trade-offs, and balance velocity vs. quality
  • TPM Experience: 10+ years of experience as a Technical Program Manager in a software engineering, large-scale infrastructure, or machine learning environment

We prefer:
  • Advanced ML Ops: Experience with large-scale model evaluation (e.g. Foundation Models, LLMs, VLMs), closed-loop simulation, and correlating offline metrics with online product performance
  • Scale Infrastructure: Experience with cloud-based ML platforms, high-performance computing (TPUs/GPUs), and multi-petabyte scale data management and validation
  • ML-Based Simulation: Familiarity with advanced simulation technologies, including ML-based scene generation (e.g. NeRF, Gaussian Splatting, Diffusion, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), etc.) and reactive agent modeling
  • Developer Platforms: Experience building or managing ML developer platforms or tooling that simplifies complex, fragmented engineering stacks
  • Organizational Transformation: Demonstrated success in driving organizational change, simplifying interfaces between teams, and improving organizational efficiency
  • Advanced Degree: Master's degree or PhD in a technical field, ideally related to AI/ML or Robotics


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

$272,000-$336,000 USD

About Waymo

Waymo LLC is a self-driving technology development company. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google. Waymo develops autonomous driving technology and provides ride-hailing services through its Waymo One program. The company has been testing its self-driving technology on public roads since 2009 and has logged millions of miles of autonomous driving. Waymo has partnerships with several automakers and has been working on developing autonomous trucks for use in logistics.
Learn more about Waymo
Size
2,000 employees
Industry
Founded
2009

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