Waymo

Senior Software Engineer, Linux Kernel

Waymo · Mountain View, CA
Mountain View, CA $213K–$263K Posted 2026-08-06
Salary
$213K–$263K
Type
Full-time
Experience
5+ yr

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.

Salary Range
$213,000 — $263,000 USD

C++
$110K — 10th pctl $265K — 90th pctl
This role’s midpoint $238K vs. market median $180K for Engineering roles
+30%
above median
Based on 22,000+ Engineering roles with disclosed salary ranges tracked on NewJob.
Waymo

Waymo

Autonomous Vehicles · Private · Mountain View, USA

Stage & Valuation
Private · $110B
Key Investors
Alphabet, Dragoneer Investment Group, Sequoia Capital
Open roles on NewJob
Most hiring in
Engineering (193) · Operations (51) · Data & ML (41)
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company that develops self-driving vehicles and operates a commercial ride-hailing service called Waymo One.
Autonomous Vehicles AI Transportation
O
Director, Foundation Model Data Recipes
Mountain View, CA Hybrid
Operations
$349K–$431K
E
Principal ML Systems Architect – Foundation Models
Mountain View, CA Hybrid
Engineering
$349K–$431K
E
Principal Software Engineer, ML System Architect
Mountain View, CA Hybrid
Engineering
$349K–$431K
See all 470+ roles at Waymo →
A
Senior Software Engineer, Linux Kernel
Arista Networks Vancouver, Canada
Engineering
$120K–$195K
A
Senior Security Software Engineer, Linux Kernel Security - Nodes & Sensors
Anthropic Zurich, Switzerland
Engineering
A
Senior Software Engineer, Perception
AeroVect Technologies Remote Remote
Engineering
$144K–$180K
A
Senior Software Engineer, Hardware Interface
Agility Robotics Fremont, CA Hybrid
Engineering
$175K–$273K
See all Engineering roles →

Interested in this role?

Apply directly on the company site — no recruiter middleman, no account required.

Apply now →
Apply on company site