About this role
Waymo's Industrial Design Team builds cohesive design language and elegant solutions to shape the future of mobility and autonomous driving technology. The group handles vehicle exterior, interior cabin, CMF, and hardware sensor integration programs while participating in every stage of engineering and product development.
Driving physical design execution from strategic vision through Class-A surfacing, physical prototyping, and production launch forms a core part of the daily work. The selected leader will manage studio operations, resource planning, and external vendor engagements while mentoring multidisciplinary designers, CAD modelers, and CMF specialists.
Candidates should bring extensive automotive design leadership experience alongside deep technical mastery of packaging and regulatory compliance. Individuals who excel here can balance creative product empathy with rigorous vehicle manufacturing standards.
What you will do
- Lead the Industrial Design studio across vehicle exterior, interior cabin, CMF, and hardware sensor integration programs.
- Drive physical design execution from strategic vision through Class-A surfacing, physical prototyping, and production launch.
- Interface and collaborate directly with automotive design studios to align design vision, vehicle packaging, and hardware integration.
- Establish studio standards for physical quality, surfacing excellence, ergonomics, and brand identity across all vehicle programs.
- Manage studio operations, resource planning, external vendor engagements, and program schedules.
- Mentor and grow a team of industrial designers, CAD modelers, CMF specialists, and Design Engineers.
What you need
- Hold a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design, or Automotive Design.
- Bring 15+ years of industrial design experience, including 8+ years leading automotive design programs or OEM vehicle studio teams.
- Demonstrate a proven track record of delivering production vehicle programs or complex automotive exterior and interior platforms from concept to volume manufacturing.
- Possess deep technical mastery of automotive packaging, Class-A surfacing, CMF processes, and vehicle safety or regulatory compliance.
- Show demonstrated experience presenting design strategy and technical trade-offs to executive leadership and cross-functional engineering leads.
- Exhibit a strong leadership background with experience managing, mentoring, and scaling multi-disciplinary design teams.
Nice to have
- Master's degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design, or related field
- Experience integrating complex hardware suites, sensors, or perception systems into automotive platforms
- Track record of bridging consumer product design empathy with traditional automotive studio development cycles
- Expertise in modern studio tools, digital visualization, VR design reviews, and high-fidelity prototype fabrication
- Experience managing supplier relationships and studio operational budgets
Benefits
- Discretionary annual bonus program
- Equity incentive plan
- Generous Company benefits program
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy?
This role follows a hybrid work schedule.
What is the salary range for this position?
The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is $323,000 to $399,000 USD.
Are there travel requirements for this role?
The position requires the ability to travel domestically and internationally approximately 20% of the time.
Who does this role report to?
You will report to a Head of Design and Consumer Research.