USA remote
Engineering & Hardware Category Manager
About this role
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's Procurement and Vendor Enablement Office (PVEO) is the strategic engine behind our rapid commercial scaling. We don't just buy services; we design the workforce architecture that powers the Waymo Driver.
In this senior leadership role, you will lead the Enterprise Outsourcing & Services vertical. You will partner with Executives across Engineering, Operations, and Corporate functions to define the "Future of Work" at Waymo—determining how we leverage the global external ecosystem to scale our Mapping, Labeling, Engineering, and Corporate capabilities. You will: Develop and execute a comprehensive procurement strategy for Engineering Services and R&D Hardware, balancing cost optimization with speed-to-market for prototypes and technical development.
Proactively manage a high-volume pipeline of outsourced engineering workforce contracts; lead negotiations for mission-critical engineering design firms to secure favorable long-term commercial and IP terms. Structure and negotiate complex Statements of Work (SOWs) and Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) agreements for hardware development to ensure successful project delivery and ROI. Optimize Joint Design Manufacturing (JDM) and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) relationships for R&D components, ensuring competitive pricing and seamless fulfillment logistics for hardware iterations.
Act as the trusted advisor to Engineering and Hardware leadership; lead complex "make vs. buy" analyses and influence technical requirements to drive commercial value and mitigate supply chain risk. Partner with Legal (IP/Security) to ensure all engineering services and hardware agreements meet Waymo’s rigorous intellectual property protection and cybersecurity standards. You have: 7+ years of strategic procurement experience, with at least 4+ years dedicated to Engineering Services, R&D, or Hardware sourcing.