Technical Specialist- ML Data
Waymo · Posted Sep 22
Autonomous driving technology, robotaxi, and ride-hailing services
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About the role
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver, building the Waymo Driver to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. As a Technical Specialist, you will serve as the HYD based operational backbone of the Labeling Policy Program, accelerating Behavior ML velocity by translating complex machine learning data requirements into consistent, high-quality, and scaleable labeling policies. This is an execution-focused role for a technical, detail-oriented specialist who thrives on driving clarity, alignment, and operational excellence in labeling workflows.
What you will do
- Translate requirements to policies: Collaborate ML model owners / engineers to understand their specific data goals, translate their ambiguous machine learning requirements into precise labeling instructions, and publish clear, actionable labeling policies (with support from the US based counterparts and vendor partners).
- Drive queue readiness & golden datasets: Speed up the initial labeling queue setup process by executing rapid policy iterations and hand-crafting golden datasets (small-scale baseline datasets) to establish quality baselines before launching full-scale operations.
- Direct vendor teams: Provide technical guidance and operational direction to vendor labeling experts to enable rapid policy setup and ensure that the active labeling queues under your purview run smoothly and meet safety and performance objectives.
- Address edge cases & regional nuances: Provide critical, detailed inputs on long-tail edge cases and coordinate with regional country specialists to ensure country-specific driving rules and local nuances are accurately captured and validated, ahead of Waymo's deployment in these new countries.
- Enable quality and process improvements: Monitor labeling pipelines, conduct targeted technical analyses to identify data quality trends, and build/maintain automated data analysis tools to proactively identify improvements in the broader labeling workflow.
- Facilitate cross-functional knowledge sharing: Act as the primary technical interface between requesters and operations, ensuring on-ground dissipation of policies, managing policy amendments, and resolving complex escalations from requestors or vendor teams.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- 6+ years of experience in data analysis, operations, or program management with a focus on machine learning data annotation, taxonomy design, or human-in-the-loop workflows.
- Operational project management: Demonstrated ability to work independently on operational workflows and successfully project manage small sub-working groups or vendor squads.
- Core ML data lifecycle understanding: Practical knowledge of dataset curation, labeling pipelines, data quality control metrics, and baseline model evaluation concepts.
- Analytical aptitude: Experience conducting technical data analyses using pre-established tools (or building simple automation scripts) to diagnose pipeline issues, track vendor quality, and generate actionable insights.
- Adaptable & detail-oriented: Comfort working within a dynamic environment, translating vague technical needs into clear documentation, and maintaining a high standard of attention to detail.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with scripting languages (e.g., Python, SQL) or basic automation techniques to parse high volumes of critical data.
- Demonstrated ability to extract, manipulate, and apply machine learning techniques to high volumes of critical, product-related data.
- Demonstrated ability in working with a variety of engineering stakeholders to gather requirements, explain models, and iterate to make improvements.
- Prior experience working across multiple geographic locations and managing vendor-hosted operations.
- Excellent problem-solving and critical thinking skills with attention to detail in an ever-changing environment.
Benefits and support
- 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.
About Waymo
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get around. Originally started as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo develops the custom Waymo Driver hardware and software stack to power fully driverless commercial ride-hailing services. The company operates the Waymo One platform, providing hundreds of thousands of weekly paid driverless trips across major metropolitan areas in the United States.
- Industry
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Company size
- 2500-3000 employees
- Founded
- 2009
- Location
- Mountain View, California, USA
- Funding stage
- Series D
Funding
Series D · $27.1B raised
- 2020-03-02Venture - Series Unknown$2.25B
- 2021-06-16Series C$2.5B
- 2024-10-25Series C$5.6B
- 2026-02-01Series D$16.0B
Leadership
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Recent coverage
Glendale Cherry Creek
Waymo Begins Welcoming Public Riders in Denver and Glendale2026-09-29
Electric Cars Report
Waymo's Latest Data Shows 82% Fewer Injury Crashes Than Human Drivers Across Major U.S. Cities2026-09-28
Los Angeles Times
Waymo Wins Approval for Drastic Expansion Across 18 California Counties, Including San Diego2026-09-24
Waymo Blog
Waymo Closes $16 Billion Funding Round at $126 Billion Valuation2026-02-02