Program Manager, Strategic Scaling & New Workflows

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.

As an ML Data Program Manager, you will be the operational backbone of our machine learning initiatives. You will own and drive the complex, cross-functional programs that deliver high-quality data—the lifeblood of our models. You will orchestrate the end-to-end data life-cycle, from defining requirements for new datasets and tooling to scaling data pipelines and ensuring our ML teams have the resources they need to innovate. This is a high-impact role for a technical, detail-oriented leader who thrives on turning ambiguous data needs into tangible, scalable solutions.

You will:

• Collaborate across cross functional groups and align execution to meet product goals

• Partner with technical leads, product managers and technical program managers to drive execution on broad cross-functional efforts

• Lead proactive risk management efforts and contingency plans across the program landscape to deliver on the program

• Set up and sustain mechanisms that enable organizational efficiencies, and improve speed of decision making and execution

• Communicate across all levels of the organization to ensure all partners are aware of program decisions, status, and changes

• Own the details - Dive deep, identify gaps, evaluate risks and misalignment

You have:

• 8+ years of experience in engineering program management, with at least 3+ years focused specifically on data-centric programs for machine learning

• Deep understanding of the ML model life-cycle and the critical role of data within it (e.g., data sourcing, labeling, quality evaluation)

• Proven ability to manage complex technical programs, including structuring project plans, identifying dependencies, and driving execution using Agile methodologies (e.g., Scrum)

• Demonstrated technical judgment in the ML/data domain, with the ability to facilitate trade-off discussions about data pipelines, tooling, and data quality with engineering teams

• Experience managing data annotation/labeling pipelines, either with in-house tooling or by managing third-party vendor relationships

• Exceptional communication skills, capable of articulating program strategy, status, and technical details to both executive and engineering audiences

We prefer:

• Master’s degree in a technical field, ideally related to AI/ML

• You contributed to technical decision making by analyzing trade-offs, asking the rights questions and offering alternate solutions

• Experience designing and reporting on program metrics that directly measure the impact of data quality on model performance

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
$152,000—$192,000 USD