Head of Learning & Development and Culture
About The Position
Waymo is seeking a Head of Learning & Development and Culture to lead the development and scaling of the company’s learning and culture function. The role defines the learning roadmap, core skills architecture, and functional upskilling initiatives that support Waymo’s business objectives, while overseeing the learning technology ecosystem and vendor partners. The successful candidate will combine strategic leadership with operational execution, develop a strong understanding of business priorities, set the team’s vision, and hire and develop team members. This human-centered, empathetic, curious, and data-driven leader will foster collaboration and help talent thrive across Waymo. The role also establishes governance, mission, budget, and oversight for People Development and Culture work affecting Waymo’s workforce. It partners with business leaders, the People Business Partner team, People Operations, instructors, and other stakeholders to build capabilities, strengthen leadership, support employee groups, and improve the employee experience.
Requirements
- BA/BS degree or equivalent practical experience in Human Resources, Learning & Development, or a related discipline.
- 15+ years of progressively responsible management experience in leadership and organizational development, overseeing enterprise learning, leadership development, and talent systems in a complex organization.
- Experience working in a high-growth technology environment.
- Advanced knowledge and applied experience in training and organizational development.
- Strong organizational development background and demonstrated ability to drive enterprise-wide structural and behavioral change.
- Advanced business partnering skills and ability to build relationships with senior leaders, front-line managers, and employees at all levels.
- Track record of scaling and delivering programs aligned with company strategic objectives and talent strategy priorities, in partnership with People teams and business stakeholders.
- Data-driven approach and demonstrated ability to translate analytics into insights and recommendations that drive decisions and measurable organizational impact.
- Experience identifying critical human capabilities and learning pathways for an AI-centered future workforce, including judgment, discretion, and accountability.
- Demonstrated experience hiring and developing a high-performing, collaborative team.
- Commitment to an inclusive work environment and understanding diverse viewpoints in decision-making.
- Strong collaboration skills and ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
- Detail-oriented with a commitment to accuracy.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in client-facing roles engaging, listening, educating, and responding with priority actions in partnership with stakeholders across functions and levels.
- Experience interpreting external and internal trends and innovation and translating them into effective practices.
- Comfort with experimentation and failure, conducting retrospectives, and applying lessons learned.
Responsibilities
- Architect and deliver a multi-year learning and capability strategy that supports Waymo’s mission.
- Create a framework for implementing learning strategy across enterprise-wide needs, functions, and cohorts, incorporating business stakeholder input on evolving human and agentic capabilities.
- Build a scalable leadership pipeline with stage-specific learning opportunities, from first-time manager fundamentals through manager-of-managers and executive leadership.
- Serve as a subject matter expert in cultivating a strong learning culture and shared accountability for employee experience across cross-functional teams.
- Integrate Waymo Way values and behaviors into everyday operations to recognize, reinforce, and elevate valued capabilities.
- Develop success measures for learning and culture practices and implement measurement approaches to inform curriculum and decisions.
- Champion and guide Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), setting strategic direction and providing programmatic support.
- Advise the business and partner with the People Business Partner team to address short- and long-term needs in support of business objectives.
- Continuously improve new hire orientation and onboarding in partnership with People Operations, expert instructors, and business leadership.
- Establish governance, mission, budget, and oversight for People Development and Culture work affecting Waymo’s workforce.
- Set the team’s vision and hire and support team members in their development and career objectives.
Benefits
- Discretionary annual bonus program, subject to eligibility requirements.
- Equity incentive plan, subject to eligibility requirements.
- Company benefits program, described as generous and subject to eligibility requirements.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Executive
