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60 Waymo Perception Engineer Jobs Hiring Near You

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Waymo Jobs Information

What is a Perception Engineer job?

A Perception Engineer develops and optimizes computer vision and sensor-based systems to help machines interpret and understand their surroundings. This role involves working with data from cameras, LiDAR, radar, and other sensors to create models for object detection, tracking, and scene understanding. Perception Engineers commonly work in fields like robotics, autonomous vehicles, and augmented reality, utilizing machine learning and signal processing techniques. Their goal is to enhance a system’s ability to perceive and react to its environment accurately and efficiently.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Perception Engineer position, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Perception Engineer, you need a strong background in computer vision, sensor fusion, machine learning, and robotics, usually supported by a degree in electrical engineering, computer science, or a related field. Experience with programming languages like Python or C++, deep learning frameworks (such as TensorFlow or PyTorch), and familiarity with tools like ROS and OpenCV are commonly required. Analytical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication are valuable soft skills that set top candidates apart. These skills are crucial for developing and optimizing perception systems that enable machines to understand and interact with complex real-world environments.

What are the typical daily responsibilities of a Perception Engineer?

As a Perception Engineer, your typical day involves designing, developing, and testing algorithms that help automated systems interpret sensor data from sources such as cameras, lidar, and radar. You’ll spend time collaborating with cross-functional teams, including hardware engineers and software developers, to integrate perception solutions into larger systems like autonomous vehicles or robotics platforms. Regular tasks include data collection and annotation, debugging, performance optimization, and participating in code reviews. This role often requires a balance of independent problem-solving and teamwork to ensure reliable and accurate perception capabilities in ever-changing environments.

What is it like to work at Waymo?

Waymo is a technology company that values innovation, collaboration, and safety, fostering an environment where employees can work together to develop and implement autonomous driving solutions.

The company's structure is organized into various teams, including software engineering, hardware development, and operations, allowing employees to specialize in their areas of expertise and contribute to the development of self-driving cars. Waymo's work environment is designed to encourage creativity and experimentation, with access to cutting-edge technology and resources.

Working at Waymo may appeal to individuals who are passionate about transforming the transportation industry and have a strong interest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and software development, as the company offers opportunities to work on complex technical challenges and make a meaningful impact on society.
Infographic showing various Perception Engineer job openings at Waymo in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 89% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution.
Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Perception LLM/VLM

Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Perception LLM/VLM

Waymo

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

$204K - $259K/yr

Other

Posted 10 days ago


Job description

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.

The Perception team builds the system which learns the spatial-temporal representation and their semantic meanings of the surrounding environment of the autonomously driving vehicle (ADV), i.e., the system that "perceives" the world around the car. We work jointly with downstream teams on the optimization and integration into the Waymo Driver. We conduct our own research to address real-world problems and collaborate with research teams at Alphabet. We have access to millions of miles of driving data from a diverse set of sensors, enabling engineers like you to (1) develop methods for efficiently and continuously learning from large scale real-world data, to (2) develop models and model training at scale, to (3) analyze real-world behavior and develop systems for handling the complexities of interacting with the real-world, and (4) optimize models for our onboard and offboard hardware.

You will:

  • Design, implement, and optimize large-scale continual pre-training pipelines for cutting-edge VLM foundation models.
  • Conduct research and development on novel pre-training techniques, focusing on efficiently integrating new, diverse, and multimodal data streams (e.g., visual data from different sensors) into existing models.
  • Develop and rigorously evaluate metrics and methodologies for measuring the performance, and transferability of continually pre-trained foundation models in the context of autonomous driving.
  • Stay current with the latest advancements in large language models, vision-language models, and continual learning, and translate relevant research into production-ready systems.

You have:

  • 5+ years of experience in Machine Learning, with a focus on large-scale model development (LLM, VLM, or similar foundation models).
  • Proven expertise in LLM/VLM pre-training, continual learning with large scale datasets.
  • Strong coding proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks (e.g., Jax, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
  • Hands-on experience with model training, evaluation, and deployment in a production environment.
  • Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

We prefer:

  • Experience in fine-tuning foundation models for autonomous driving or robotics applications
  • Familiarity with large-scale data curation and quality assurance processes for multimodal datasets.
  • Background in autonomous vehicle perception, motion planning, or decision-making systems.
  • Publications in top-tier machine learning or computer vision conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV).
  • PhD in a relevant field.


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
$204,000—$259,000 USD