Minimum 7 years of incident management experience as an Incident Commander in complex environments.
Strong technical expertise in engineering systems for effective incident response and root cause analysis.
Ability to remain calm and decisive under pressure during high-stakes situations.
Experience briefing senior executives on complex incidents in real-time.
Exceptional attention to detail in documenting incident timelines and analyses.
Willingness to participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation for global incident response.
Responsibilities
Lead as Incident Commander during cross-functional disruptions, making quick system-level decisions.
Manage and prioritize escalations, ensuring representation from key stakeholders throughout incidents.
Develop partnerships to understand stakeholder concerns and communicate post-incident outcomes.
Collaborate with global Operations teams for seamless 24/7 incident response support.
Drive continuous improvement through thorough incident retrospectives and actionable follow-ups.
Deliver executive-level communications on incidents, analyzing key outcomes and trends.
Benefits
Participation in Waymo's discretionary annual bonus program.
Eligibility for equity incentive plan.
Access to a generous Company benefits program.
Full Job Description
You will:
Lead as the Incident Commander during cross-functional disruptions, orchestrating up to 100% of the live real-time response efforts, making decisive system-level decisions within critical timeframes (e.g., able to respond in under 5 minutes to critical events), and coordinating multiple cross-functional stakeholders to safely and efficiently resolve events.
Manage and prioritize escalations - ensuring targeted stakeholder representation (e.g., Legal, Ops, Safety, Policy, & Communications) throughout the incident lifecycle.
Develop robust cross-functional partnerships - to proactively understand stakeholder concerns during events and effectively communicate post-incident outcomes and learning opportunities to a global audience.
Collaborate closely within global Operations teams - providing critical support and guidance during real-time incident response to maintain seamless 24/7 coverage.
Drive continuous improvement - by leading thorough incident retrospectives for 100% of high-severity events to accurately document timelines, identify precise root causes, and track 100% of actionable post-incident follow-ups to implementation.
Deliver executive-level communications - on active incidents and present comprehensive analyses of key outcomes, trends, and strategic learnings from past events.
You have:
Professional experience in incident management, including a minimum of 7 years serving as an Incident Commander or lead responder for high-severity, cross-functional operational incidents within a complex engineering or logistics environment.
Proven technical expertise & cross-functional leadership, apply technical understanding of complex engineering systems to drive incident response, root cause analysis, and remediation for live operational incidents, coupled with an exceptional ability to build and align diverse stakeholders (e.g., Engineering, Legal, Operations) during critical events.
Demonstrated capability to remain calm and decisive under pressure, efficiently coordinating response efforts and making sound judgments in rapidly evolving, high-stakes situations.
Experience briefing senior executives and leadership, in real-time, on complex, fast-moving incidents, articulating technical details, impact, and proposed resolutions clearly and concisely across various communication channels.
Exceptional attention to detail with a track record of meticulously documenting incident timelines, contributing factors, and post-incident analysis to drive accurate reporting and continuous improvement.
Willingness and operational capability to participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation, demonstrating flexibility to cover shifts as part of a global "follow the sun" incident response capability.
We prefer:
Advanced degree in a relevant field such as Emergency Management, Business, Operations, Law, or a related discipline, demonstrating a deeper theoretical understanding of incident dynamics and organizational response.
Experience leading crisis and incident response as an Incident Commander in a global organization covering AMER, EMEA, and APAC operations.
Proven ability to effectively interact with and/or report to external stakeholders, including law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and legal counsel, during sensitive or high-profile incidents.
Experience in highly regulated industries such as Automotive, Maritime, Aviation, or similar sectors, providing familiarity with safety-critical systems, compliance frameworks, and complex operational procedures.
Certifications/alignment on relevant incident management best practices and frameworks (e.g., NIMS/ICS, ITIL Incident Management, or similar), indicating a structured approach to incident handling and continuous improvement.
Experience with event mapping initiatives to enhance incident action planning, ensure congruence with response team actions, and promote stakeholder coordination.
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
$159,000-$196,000 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.
