Staff Tech Lead Software Engineer, Vehicle Realism Platform
About this role
Engineers who thrive on building complex infrastructure and solving difficult physics and systems integration challenges will find a natural home on this team. Waymo is seeking a Staff Tech Lead Software Engineer to shape the Vehicle Realism Platform, the crucial bridge between core simulator architecture and the physical representation of autonomous vehicles. The group constructs systems ensuring that simulated signals accurately reflect real-world driving behaviors across diverse conditions and hardware platforms.
Day-to-day work centers on designing long-term architectures that scale for internal customers while enhancing overall robotic realism through physics, timing, and environment models. The person in this role will collaborate closely with onboard, research, hardware, and evaluation organizations to turn various building blocks into reliable, reproducible simulation solutions. By empowering engineers across the company to safely iterate and test at scale, the right candidate directly supports global autonomous driving software deployment.
What you will do
- Collaborate with onboard and research engineers to expand simulation capabilities and achieve critical Waymo milestones.
- Monitor and improve the reproducibility, reliability, and usability of the Waymo simulator.
- Design long-term architectures to accommodate a growing number of internal customers and product requirements.
- Bridge vehicle subsystems and simulation infrastructure to enhance overall robotic realism.
- Partner closely with collaborators from Simulator, Eval, Hardware, and Onboard organizations.
- Integrate building blocks provided by cross-functional teams and turn them into reliable, reproducible simulation solutions.
What you need
- Bring hands-on experience building a popular internal or external-facing product.
- Demonstrate backend knowledge including workflows, databases, SQL, debugging, and production monitoring.
- Possess at least 6 years of professional experience in software development.
- Showcase a strong technical background in C++.
Nice to have
- Experience with the release of software in a highly distributed heterogeneous execution environment
- Experience with systems programming such as game engines, databases, operating systems, or distributed systems
- Experience with robotics or perception systems
- Experience with performance optimization in complex backend and infrastructure systems
- Experience with machine learning
Benefits
- Discretionary annual bonus program
- Equity incentive plan
- Company benefits program
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the salary range for this role?
The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is $251,000 to $310,000 USD. Actual starting pay is based on job-related factors including exact work location, experience, relevant training, education, and skill level.
What does the Vehicle Realism Platform team actually do?
The VRP team builds tools and systems to enable realistic autonomous-driving simulation capabilities across all hardware platforms and diverse driving conditions. They manage the interface between the core Simulator Architecture and the physical representation of the vehicle, which includes platform expression, physics, environment, timing, and hardware models.
Who will I be partnering with on a regular basis?
You will collaborate with onboard and research engineers to expand simulation capabilities and achieve critical milestones. Additionally, you will partner closely with collaborators from Simulator, Eval, Hardware, and Onboard organizations.