Waymo

Senior Research Scientist, World Action Modeling

Waymo$213K — $263K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • PhD in Computer Science or equivalent research experience, focusing on Deep Learning and Generative Models.
  • 5+ years of practical experience in Deep Learning, specifically with generative models.
  • Proficient coding skills in Python and familiarity with ML frameworks such as JAX, Tensorflow, and Pytorch.
  • Experience with large-scale distributed training and parallel computing techniques.
  • Expertise in generative models for various data domains, including traffic simulation and human animation.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement generative modeling solutions for simulating future world states for autonomous vehicles.
  • Develop scalable data pipelines to process inputs from multiple sources.
  • Create and apply evaluation strategies for action models.
  • Analyze model behavior and performance implications on scaling and architecture.
  • Conduct research and share findings through technical publications or blog posts.
  • Collaborate across departments to apply modeling techniques to Waymo products.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
  • 401(k) retirement plan with company matching contributions.
  • 20 days of paid vacation accrued annually, plus 40 hours of sick leave.
  • Maternity leave of 28-30 weeks, with additional baby bonding leave of 18 weeks.
  • 13 paid holidays per year.
Full Job Description
This role follows a hybrid work schedule and reports to a Staff Research Scientist / Tech Lead Manager

You will:
  • Design and implement generative world action modeling solutions to simulate future world states / observations and generate policies for embodied agents (autonomous vehicles).
  • Develop and maintain scalable data pipelines to process data from multiple sources.
  • Design and implement evaluation strategies for world action models.
  • Study and analyze different behaviors of this model, such as scaling efficacy, downstream quality implications, model architecture design ablations, etc.
  • Conducting cutting-edge research and potentially communicating research findings to the wider academic community via technical blog posts, technical reports and/or publications.
  • Collaborate inclusively across Waymo/Alphabet to apply developed techniques to Waymo products.

You have:
  • PhD degree in Computer Science or a similar discipline, or an equivalent amount of deep learning research experience, with 5+ years of experience with Deep Learning and Generative Models.
  • Strong coding skills in Python and strong familiarity with major ML Frameworks (JAX, Tensorflow, Pytorch).
  • Strong familiarity with AI tools in day to day work.
  • Experience in large-scale distributed training and different forms of parallelism.
  • Experience in generative models for domains such as world models, images, videaos, 3D, human animation, traffic, and/or simulation, using techniques such as diffusion and/or autoregressive models.

We prefer:
  • Publications at top-tier conferences like CVPR/ICCV/ECCV/ICLR/ICML/NeurIPS/IROS/CoRL etc.
  • Substantial involvement in and contributions to high impact industry AI projects.
  • First-hand experience in, and direct contributions to training large world models / world-action models.
  • Familiarity with Reinforcement Learning in simulation environments.

In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:
  • Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
  • Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
  • Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
  • Sick Time: 40 hours/year (statutory, where applicable); 5 days/event (discretionary)
  • Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
  • Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
  • Holidays: 13 paid days per year


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

$213,000-$263,000 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

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Waymo

More Enterprise Technology Jobs

Find similar Senior Research Scientist, World Action Modeling jobs: