--- title: 'Lead Program Manager - New Platform Validation Operations at Waymo' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-program-manager-new-platform-validation-operations-waymo-mountain-view-ven7hvabkxka' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-11' --- # Lead Program Manager - New Platform Validation Operations at Waymo - **Company:** Waymo - **Location:** Mountain View, CA / San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $190k–$234k - **Posted:** 2026-07-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-11 - **Apply:** https://careers.withwaymo.com/jobs?gh_jid=8047527 ## 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. 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 hybrid role, you will report to a Head of Validation Operations You will: - Lead NPI Platform Program Execution: Drive end-to-end program structuring for onboarding new platform variants into validation fleets, managing the critical path from arrival and upfit to testing and fleet deployment. - Executive Stakeholder Management & Influence: Serve as the primary operational partner to cross-functional leadership (Engineering, Product, Supply Chain, Safety), actively aligning dependencies, pushing back when necessary, and driving high-level decisions. - Hands-on Operational Problem Solving: Bridge high-level program strategy with ground-level realities, stepping directly into depot/field operations as needed to unblock issues and validate processes. - Align Planning with Execution: Spearhead operating plans that reconcile demand forecasts with field realities, dynamically adjusting for real-time vehicle online rates, upfit throughput, and operator constraints. - Executive Reporting & Visibility: Formulate, automate, and present executive dashboards and operating metrics, effectively communicating operational readiness, program risks, and fleet bottlenecks to senior leadership. - Optimize Fleet Efficiency & Yield: Partner cross-functionally to build capacity and forecasting frameworks that maximize validation yield and streamline vendor operational workflows. You have: - Operational & Program Leadership: 7–10+ years of experience leading complex technical programs or physical operations, with a proven ability to structure ambiguous initiatives from concept to execution. - Executive Presence & Communication: Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders, communicate trade-offs clearly to executive leadership, and manage high-stakes cross-functional relationships. - Hands-on / "Scrappy" Mindset: Willingness to engage directly with ground-level depot workflows and physical hardware when technical roadblocks require operational triage. - Cross-Functional Orchestration: Proven track record aligning cross-functional teams (Engineering, Product, Supply Chain, Safety, Legal) across shifting timelines and competing priorities. We prefer: - Hardware / NPI Testing Experience: Direct experience launching or validating automotive, autonomous vehicle, or robotics hardware platforms. - Vendor & Field Operations: Experience managing third-party vendor operations, staffing models, or depot operations. Travel Requirements: - 15–30% Domestic/International Travel: Required in addition to regular local depot and site visits. 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 $190,000—$234,000 USD ## About Waymo ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company that develops and operates the Waymo Driver, a self-driving system used for ride-hailing and trucking, with a mission to be the world’s most trusted driver. - **Entity Type**: Private (subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google) - **Headquarters**: Mountain View, California, USA - **Founded**: 2009 (as the Google self-driving car project); became an independent company under Alphabet in 2016 - **Founders**: The project was initiated by Sebastian Thrun (Google X), with key early contributions from Anthony Levandowski and others. Current leadership is Co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, and Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña. ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Autonomous vehicles, self-driving technology, ride-hailing, autonomous trucking, mobility-as-a-service - **Target customers**: B2C (riders via Waymo One), B2B (fleet operators, logistics companies, and partners), and enterprise (autonomous trucking and delivery) - **Mission or purpose statement**: “To be the world’s most trusted driver.” Waymo aims to save lives, drive inclusive mobility, and improve the state of the planet by making transportation safer, more accessible, and sustainable. ## Products & Services - **Waymo One**: The world’s first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service. Offers fully driverless rides to the public in Metro Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The fleet is now all-electric (Jaguar I-PACE). - **Waymo Via**: Autonomous trucking and logistics service for freight movement, operating with partners to move goods on highways. - **Waymo Driver**: The company’s core autonomous driving system (software + hardware stack). It is designed to be integrated into various vehicle platforms for ride-hailing, trucking, and delivery. - **Waymo Open Dataset**: A publicly available dataset of autonomous driving sensor data, provided to researchers to accelerate breakthroughs in the field. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (as a private subsidiary of Alphabet). Alphabet’s market cap is ~$2 trillion (as of mid-2025). Waymo is considered Alphabet’s most valuable “Other Bet.” - **Key Metric**: Over 20 million rider-only (fully autonomous) rides served as of early 2025. 94% fewer serious injury crashes compared to human drivers over the same distance in operating cities. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Alphabet Inc. (parent company). Partners include Jaguar Land Rover (vehicle supply), Daimler Trucks (trucking), and various fleet operators and delivery services. - **Growth Signals**: Rapid geographic expansion (largest fully autonomous service area in the world at 180 sq miles in Phoenix); transition to an all-electric fleet; expansion into Los Angeles and San Francisco; growing public trust (93% rider satisfaction rate); continuous hiring across engineering, operations, and AI. ## Competitive Advantages - **First-mover & scale**: Waymo is the only company operating a fully autonomous, commercial, paid ride-hailing service across multiple major US cities, with millions of real-world miles driven without a human safety driver. - **Deep Alphabet backing**: Access to vast resources, AI talent (DeepMind/Google Brain), and infrastructure (Google Maps, Cloud, AI chips). - **Safety track record**: Publicly released data showing a 82-94% reduction in injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers, building regulatory and public trust. - **Full-stack approach**: In-house development of hardware (LIDAR, cameras, radar), software (perception, planning, simulation), and operations (fleet management, rider experience). ## Strategic Focus - **Scaling safely**: Expanding service areas (adding more cities and suburbs) while maintaining a strong safety record. - **All-electric fleet**: Transitioning the entire Waymo One fleet to zero-emission vehicles (Jaguar I-PACE) to align with sustainability goals. - **Trucking & logistics**: Growing Waymo Via to capture the massive autonomous trucking market, partnering with OEMs and shippers. - **AI & simulation**: Using advanced AI (including large models and generative AI) to improve the Waymo Driver’s decision-making and simulation-based validation. - **Accessibility & inclusive mobility**: Designing for riders with disabilities, older adults, and underserved communities to ensure transportation is available to all. ## Why Work Here - **Impact**: Work on technology that directly saves lives (1.4M traffic deaths globally each year) and reshapes the future of transportation. - **Culture**: Waymo describes itself as a place for “ambitious thinkers and relentless problem solvers” with a deep respect for getting every detail right. Values include safety, innovation, and responsibility. - **Teams**: Opportunities across Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, AI Foundations, Product & Design, Operations & Supply Chain, Safety, Policy, and General & Administrative roles. - **Internships**: Strong early-career program with internships for Bachelors, Masters, MBA, and PhD candidates, often leading to full-time offers. - **Hiring process**: Transparent and structured. Includes an initial recruiter screen, 1-2 phone/video interviews, and a virtual onsite (up to 5 interviews). Emphasizes problem-solving, collaboration, and real-time thinking. AI tools are not permitted during technical assessments to ensure fair evaluation. - **Remote/hybrid policy**: The careers page lists both on-site and remote roles, with most engineering and operations roles based in Mountain View, San Francisco, or other US locations. - **Benefits**: Top-notch benefits, unique learning opportunities, thoughtful community engagement, and meaningful gatherings. Specific perks are not detailed publicly but are described as comprehensive. ## Sources 1. [Waymo.com](https://waymo.com/) – Official company website (mission, history, safety data) 2. [Waymo About Page](https://waymo.com/about/) – Company history, leadership, and milestones 3. [Waymo Careers Page](https://careers.withwaymo.com/) – Culture, teams, hiring process, benefits 4. [Waymo Open Roles](https://careers.withwaymo.com/jobs/search) – Current job listings and departments 5. [Waymo How We Hire](https://careers.withwaymo.com/how-we-hire) – Interview process, tips, and accessibility ## Other roles at Waymo - [Singapore Market Operations Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/singapore-market-operations-lead-waymo-singapore-qssya52e4scj) — Singapore - [Executive Business Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-business-partner-waymo-mountain-view-sm9yxcmf8wqw) — Mountain View, CA - [Emergency Services Liaison, Singapore](https://feeny.ai/job/emergency-services-liaison-singapore-waymo-singapore-d65ah8jmjn6h) — Singapore - [Senior Product Manager, Fleet Resilience](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-manager-fleet-resilience-waymo-mountain-view-dn4qtj7mskf5) — Mountain View, CA / San Francisco, CA - [Utilities Specialist, Europe](https://feeny.ai/job/utilities-specialist-europe-waymo-london-26d2jktbn2n8) — London, United Kingdom - [Legal Counsel - Singapore](https://feeny.ai/job/legal-counsel-singapore-waymo-singapore-gjahgxe47ghv) — Singapore - [Staff Software Technical Program Manager, OEM Software](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-technical-program-manager-oem-software-waymo-mountain-view-wfa1ncsrghhz) — Mountain View, CA / San Francisco, CA - [Technical Program Manager, Hardware Modules](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-hardware-modules-waymo-mountain-view-10efjy22trww) — Mountain View, CA / San Francisco, CA - [PreConstruction Manager, Europe](https://feeny.ai/job/preconstruction-manager-europe-waymo-london-ns1vvzvhkwm9) — London, United Kingdom - [Indirect Procurement Category Manager | 間接購買カテゴリマネージャ](https://feeny.ai/job/indirect-procurement-category-manager-waymo-tokyo-4ps2svgajnnm) — Tokyo, Japan