Waymo Salary

💰 $175K–$251K salary range

Median: $213K  ·  Based on 235 public Waymo job postings  ·  Updated June 9, 2026

This Waymo salary benchmark is built from public job postings — no private placement data. Figures reflect base salary only (equity is separate) and are refreshed as new postings are collected.

📊 Salary breakdown

Highest-paying open roles at Waymo

• Principal Software Engineer, Simulation Efficiency Lead — $421K · CSI (7LV)
• Director of Site Reliability Engineering — $421K · CSI (7LV)
• Senior Staff TLM, Perception, Pre-training & Distillation — $356K · Perception (7LT)
• Director, Market Operations – East — $352K · Ops General Pgm Mgmt (89M)
• Principal Software Engineer - Waymo Driver Post Training — $349K · Perception (7LT)
• Principal Software Engineer, Onboard Field Response — $349K · Planner (7LU)

Waymo salary by department

• Perception (7LT): $279K median (12 roles)
• Product (78L): $254K median (20 roles)
• Simulation (7XW): $251K median (13 roles)
• Legal (67B): $238K median (3 roles)
• Comms (67E): $238K median (3 roles)
• General Services: $238K median (6 roles)
• AI Foundations (7SJ): $236K median (8 roles)
• Planner (7LU): $234K median (8 roles)

Waymo salary by seniority

• Mid: $175K median (81)
• Senior: $213K median (51)
• Staff: $272K median (35)
• Lead: $215K median (16)
• Manager: $196K median (55)
• Director: $285K median (9)

Waymo salary by location

• Remote: $204K median (56 roles)
• San Francisco: $159K median (20 roles)
• New York: $159K median (3 roles)

Remote work at Waymo

24% of Waymo's disclosed-pay roles are remote-friendly. Remote roles run a $204K median vs $159K onsite.

What Waymo looks for

Most-required skills across these postings: Python (45) · Java (15) · PyTorch (9) · Kotlin (5) · Go (4) · BigQuery (4) · TensorFlow (4) · Azure (3) · CI/CD (3) · TypeScript (2).

Benefits & perks at Waymo

Commonly listed: bonus (165) · dental (9) · 401k (9) · pto (9) · parental (9).

About Waymo

Waymo is Series D stage · 1,001–5,000 employees · founded 2009 · HQ Mountain View, California. This context shapes pay: later-stage, well-funded companies tend to anchor base salary higher.

Experience & background at Waymo

Roles typically ask for around 6 years of experience (up to 15+ for the most senior). Most postings don't state a degree requirement; of the 148 that do, Bachelor's and PhD and Master's are most common.

Base salary vs. total compensation

The figures on this page are base salary only. Equity is a separate — and often large — component of total compensation, especially at high-growth and AI-native companies; 67% of these postings reference equity (options). Equity is not included in the medians above.

Waymo total compensation signals

Beyond base salary, postings indicate: 100% of roles list a bonus; common structures: salaried. Bonus, commission, and equity vary by role and are not included in the base medians above.

Waymo hiring activity

Waymo has 178 open roles right now, and this benchmark draws on 247 public job postings with disclosed pay. 104 of these roles were first seen in the last 30 days (247 in the last 90). Mostly full-time, with 9 contract roles in the mix.

💼 Similar companies hiring

Compare Waymo's pay with other Series D companies:

• SpaceX — median $150K
• Brex — median $197K
• Talkiatry — median $215K
• Decagon — median $320K
• True Anomaly — median $210K
• Hightouch — median $250K

Browse all company salary pages →

Government wage data

For corroboration, U.S. Department of Labor certified wage filings (FY2026) for Waymo show a median of $185K, ranging $165K–$215K, across 634 filings. Reported separately from — never blended with — the job-posting median above.

Common questions

What does Waymo pay?
The median base salary is $213K, with a typical range of $175K–$251K, based on 247 public job postings (2025–2026). Base only — equity is separate.

What is the highest-paying job at Waymo?
One of the highest-paying open roles is Principal Software Engineer, Simulation Efficiency Lead, at $421K base.

Which team pays the most at Waymo?
The Perception (7LT) team, at a $279K median.

Where does this data come from?
Public job postings on company career pages and public job boards — no private placement or client data.

Methodology

USD base salary aggregated from 247 public Waymo job postings (2025–2026). Range = 25th–75th percentile; median = 50th percentile. Roles, departments, skills, and experience are parsed from the postings. Base salary only — equity excluded. Last refreshed June 10, 2026.

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