Operations Controller Lead

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

Waymo Operations exists to deliver the Waymo Driver to the world. We are a global team building and scaling the world's first and leading autonomous fleet and operations platform. From component sourcing to end customer management, we enable and create value for Waymo through scaled and orchestrated deployment of the Waymo Driver. At Waymo, we are dedicated to building a culture that promotes collaboration and celebration. We value our team members' unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences and support and encourage all team members to share their ideas to help Waymo better serve the communities in which we operate.

In this role, you will enable operations at scale, protect operational network integrity, and ensure operational resilience as the business expands across vehicles, miles, markets, and partners. This role provides a unified operational voice in crisis situations for Waymo in real time, aligning decision making and accountability to act in the company's best interest across the global network in the most critical moments. The role serves to accelerate resolution and continuous improvement across disciplined escalations and coordinated responses to disruptions and safety-critical events.

In this hybrid role, you will report to our Senior Director, Global Operations Center.

You will:

• Command Network Oversight: Serve as the on-shift operational authority for Waymo’s network, maintaining end-to-end situational awareness across all live markets.

• Direct System Disruptionst: Exercise operational control during incidents, disruptions, and safety-critical events, making timely decisions to stabilize and recover service.

• Synchronize Regional Strategy: Partner closely with Regional Market Leads, ensuring alignment between network-level priorities and market-level realities, representing local impacts, risks, and constraints in network-level decision-making to ensure balanced outcomes.

• Bridge Technical Workstreams: Serve as the central operational interface during incidents and periods of elevated risk.

• Optimize Global-Local Balance: Apply a network-first mindset while balancing local conditions and regulatory considerations to maintain compliance and performance.

• Lead Crisis Communications: Communicate with clarity, authority, and a calm demeanor during high-pressure situations to maintain organizational confidence.

• Enforce Operational Governance: Ensure consistent application of operational standards, escalation protocols, and decision frameworks across the fleet.

• Drive Resilience and Evolution: Support post-event analysis and contribute to the continuous improvement of network operations and systemic recovery.

You have:

• 8+ years in senior operational leadership.

• Experience directing real-time network operations and safety-critical decisions in high-pressure, 24/7 environments.

• Experience leading cross-functional event response with clear structure, decision discipline, and communication.

• Ability to synthesize live signals to maintain situational awareness across all global markets.

• Ability to align network priorities with regional market realities and technical engineering constraints.

• Experience in managing executive escalations to provide immediate actionable guidance.

• Ability to manage network resilience by identifying emerging risks and applying data-driven insights.

We prefer:

• Operational leadership within aviation, emergency services, or autonomous operations.

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
$285,000—$352,000 USD