Senior Software Engineer, Linux Kernel
Waymo
$213,000 - $263,000 / year
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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 Onboard Infrastructure is responsible for low-level software and infrastructure on various components of the Waymo self-driving system. The team's scope covers everything from low-level system software to high-bandwidth data logging, IPC (low-latency and high-throughput), performance analysis, and full-system debugging. We work with the Hardware, Compute, Sensor, Perception, Behavior and Machine Learning teams to build the most performant and low-latency self-driving solution in the industry.
In this role, you will work on the System Software Team. The System Software team owns the primary compute node of Waymo's on-vehicle compute platform – an integrated embedded system. You will write Linux Kernel drivers (including creating appropriate user-space APIs) to communicate with custom hardware (e.g. custom ASICs and FPGAs). If you enjoy building embedded systems using novel compute hardware and working with engineering teams that will be direct consumers of your work, you'll be a great fit for this role.
In this hybrid role, you will report to the Technical Lead Manager.
You will:
- Work on a small team of System Software and Linux Kernel Engineers to develop system software components from early prototyping to production launch of driverless vehicles
- Develop and test Linux Kernel device drivers and other components for high-performance embedded systems including custom ASICs and accelerators.
- Work with a variety of engineering teams and SoC partners to take on ambiguous problems.
You have:
- BA/BS degree in Computer Science, or relevant technical field or equivalent practical experience
- Proficiency in C and C++
- 5+ years of programming experience in an asynchronous environment with multiple processes, threads, timers, and interrupts
- Experience with Linux kernel and device driver development
- Working knowledge of hardware bring-up and debugging, including the ability to read schematics/datasheets and use common tools (oscilloscopes, multimeter, logic analyzers)
We prefer:
- Experience with early-silicon development tools, e.g. emulators, simulators and FPGAs
- Experience with common hardware protocols/interfaces (PCIe, Ethernet, or I2C)
- Experience working with multiple types of industry partners (CM, ODM, OEM, or ISV)
- Working knowledge of complex hardware-accelerated compute pipelines (GPUs, ML accelerators, image/data processors)
- Experience with bootloaders or programming in a BIOS
- Experience with building and maintaining testing infrastructure for OS and other low level code.
- Experience with performing safe and robust software and firmware updates.
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.
About this role
Waymo's System Software Team is building the low-level compute infrastructure that powers autonomous vehicles at scale. In this role, you'd develop Linux kernel drivers and system software for custom hardware—ASICs, FPGAs, and accelerators—that sit at the heart of the Waymo Driver. You'd work on a small team taking problems from early prototyping through production deployment of driverless vehicles, collaborating directly with hardware teams, compute engineers, and external partners who depend on your code.
This is embedded systems work that demands depth in kernel development and hardware integration. You'll need solid C and C++ skills, at least five years writing asynchronous, multi-threaded code, and hands-on experience with Linux kernel and device drivers. Hardware debugging proficiency—reading schematics, using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers—is essential. The role values people who've worked with early-silicon tools, hardware protocols like PCIe or I2C, and complex compute pipelines, though those aren't strict requirements.
The position is full-time and in-office in Mountain View, with a salary range of $213,000 to $263,000 plus bonus eligibility and equity. It's a good fit if you're drawn to low-level systems work on novel hardware and want your code to have direct, visible impact on a production autonomous driving platform.
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Pay for this role
$213,000 to $263,000 per year
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