Senior Product Manager, New Platform Discovery and Validation

Waymo•San Francisco, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Waymo is hiring a Senior Product Manager for New Platform Discovery and Validation. This role owns product strategy and planning for evaluating new vehicle, sensing, and compute platforms, including perception evaluation coverage and Simrack capacity, demand forecasting, and execution efficiency. The position defines and executes structured closed-course rider-only testing and the roadmap for an autonomous testing mode representative of rider-only operations. It also aligns validation trip demand with vehicle supply and fleet allocation, and works with Commercialization and Operations partners to surface rider experience and driving quality issues early. The role brings together Hardware, Systems Engineering, Firmware, Diagnostics, and other teams to develop a connected validation funnel spanning HIL Simrack, Car-on-Bench, closed-course testing, RDA, and internal trips, with the goal of accelerating platform readiness from prototype to commercial deployment. The position follows a hybrid work schedule, reports to the Product Management Lead of New Platform Introductions, and may require occasional travel of up to 10% between Bay Area offices, depots, and closed-course testing facilities in Arizona and California.

Requirements

At least 7 years of product management or technical program/systems leadership experience in autonomous vehicles, robotics, complex hardware-software systems, ML/perception evaluation, or large-scale testing and validation infrastructure.
Demonstrated experience owning complex technical products end-to-end and translating ambiguous system-level validation and operational challenges into clear product requirements, metrics, and multi-quarter roadmaps.
Strong analytical foundation in capacity and demand planning, resource optimization, and operational efficiency for constrained hardware or compute test assets.
Deep systems thinking and ability to reason across the autonomous stack, including sensors, compute, firmware, base vehicle integration, perception/ML models, onboard software, and fleet operations.
Proven ability to influence and align cross-functional stakeholders across Engineering, Systems Engineering, Testing Operations, and Commercialization without direct authority.
BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, or Robotics Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience with New Platform Introduction (NPI), vehicle or hardware bring-up, or transitioning autonomous or robotics platforms from prototype validation to commercial rider-only deployment.
Experience with autonomous driving perception and ML model evaluation methodologies.
Hands-on familiarity with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation, Car-on-Bench (COB) testing, closed-course structured testing, and public road autonomous fleet validation workflows.
Experience designing and scaling internal testing programs, operational readiness frameworks, or production-representative testing environments for autonomous fleets.
Experience building S&OP (Supply & Operations Planning) or demand/supply matching processes for physical test fleets, depot operations, or hardware testbeds.
Comfort operating in a fast-paced, multi-platform environment with simultaneous hardware, compute, and software generations in flight.

Responsibilities

Own New Platform Perception Evaluation strategy and coverage across next-generation vehicle, sensing, and compute platforms.
Lead product planning for New Platform Simrack capacity, demand forecasting, and execution efficiency across compute generations; optimize resource allocation and test coverage to shift-left timing, reliability, and fidelity.
Define and execute the New Platform Introduction (NPI) Closed-Course Rider-Only (CC-RO) structured testing strategy and roadmap, partnering with Systems Engineering to test new vehicle, hardware, and firmware configurations and accelerate rider-only issue discovery before public road deployment.
Own RO Deployment ADC (RDA) as a product, defining its vision, requirements, and roadmap for a rider-only-representative autonomous testing mode that exercises depot automation loops, off-hail behaviors, long-duration engagement, fault policies, and fleet response before commercial launch.
Drive NPI ADC Internal trip delivery, aligning validation trip demand with vehicle supply, fleet allocation, and Commercialization and Operations partners to identify rider user experience and driving quality issues early.
Partner with Hardware, Systems Engineering, Firmware, and Diagnostics teams to build a shift-left discovery and validation funnel spanning HIL Simrack, Car-on-Bench, closed-course testing, RDA, and internal trips, compressing platform bring-up timelines from prototype to commercial deployment.