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.

As part of Waymo's Legal team, you will work on the exciting legal issues surrounding our transformational autonomous driving technology and help drive our business lines forward from technology ideation through scaled commercial deployment. We partner with our public policy, safety, security and privacy experts to define transportation policy for the autonomous driving world to come, advising on regulatory changes that support and protect our users around the world. We collaborate with our engineering, product, strategy and operations teams to develop and protect our intellectual property portfolio and drive our corporate and commercial transactions. We ensure compliance with an increasingly complex and dynamic range of global regulations. And we anticipate, mitigate, and litigate high-profile and precedent-setting legal matters.

In this hybrid role, you will report to a Managing Counsel, Product, AI & Privacy.

You Will

Serve as a primary day-to-day privacy legal counsel for Waymo product, engineering and AI/ML research teams, driving "Privacy by Design" reviews for complex sensor data, computer vision, and model training initiatives from ideation to launch.
Collaborate with internal stakeholders, including across Legal, Rider Support, Engineering, Product, Security, People, and Research, to ensure privacy considerations and customer needs are integrated into business initiatives and roadmaps.
Advise on the impact of emerging U.S. and foreign privacy laws and regulations, and help develop practical solutions and compliance frameworks to address new requirements.
Collaborate closely with the InfoSec and Engineering Security teams to manage incident response, data governance, and third-party security assessments.
Draft and negotiate complex data protection terms in strategic partnerships, vendor agreements, and supply chain contracts to support business operations, market expansion, and product development.
Experience with understanding cross-functional perspectives and navigating ambiguity. Ability to identify and create streamlined processes to support a growing company.

You Have

J.D. degree (or equivalent) with active membership in at least one state bar.
6+ years of legal experience focused on privacy, data protection, and product counseling in a technology environment.
Deep substantive knowledge of US and international privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, BIPA) and a strong understanding of the technical implications of data processing.
Proven experience advising engineering teams on technical privacy issues (e.g., machine learning, differential privacy, de-identification) and translating legal requirements into engineering specs.
Experience managing complex projects of diverse scope and driving legal initiatives that support business growth and innovation.
Excellent legal and business judgment, with the ability to provide practical, risk-based advice in gray areas without needing significant oversight.

We Prefer

CIPP/US, CIPP/E, or CIPT certification.
Experience working in-house at an automotive, hardware, or AI-focused technology company.
Experience with privacy challenges specific to machine learning, model training, data localization requirements, and biometrics.
Background in responding to regulatory inquiries or managing privacy litigation.
Technical background or strong fluency in data infrastructure, cloud computing, or software engineering.

Travel Requirements

Possible occasional travel if required for regulator engagement, deal negotiations, or other circumstances.

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

$238,000—$302,000 USD

Waymo jobs

Privacy Counsel