Jobs / United States / Waymo LLC
Data Scientist
Waymo LLC · 🇺🇸 Mountain View, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA
Sponsorship verdict
Sponsorship possible
One solid signal, not two — worth applying, and worth asking about sponsorship early.
- Employer is on a government sponsor recordThe US Department of Labor certified 290 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 87 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- What Waymo LLC paid sponsored hires in similar roles19 certified filings for “Data Scientist” (Data Scientists) in CA: $197k–$230k, median $205k. Most were filed at wage level III (50%) — 3 lottery entries, ≈46% projected selection odds for cap-subject employers. Source: US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
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Sponsor Radar — Waymo LLC
The US Department of Labor certified 290 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 87 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for Waymo LLC →
About the 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. Rigorous performance evaluation of the Waymo Driver is a critical part of scaling our ride hailing service and achieving Waymo’s audacious goals. Waymo data scientists work hand-in-hand with engineering teams at each stage of the software development cycle, employing statistical models and developing metrics and measurement frameworks to ensure that the Waymo Driver meets our strict standards for safety, compliance, and driving and service quality. Autonomous driving presents a new paradigm in data science: in addition to leveraging data collected on-road, we generate our own data using state-of-the-art simulation technology—resulting in denser signals and challenging new problems in estimation and experimental design. In this hybrid role you will report to a Data Science Manager. You will: • Develop evaluation frameworks for autonomous vehicle performance, for large-scale ML models, and for the quality of simulation. • Develop new metrics, interpret trends, and investigate anomalies in data from simulation and on-road driving. • Develop novel statistical methods to handle unique aspects of AV data; e.g. rate estimation with rare events, combining real and synthetic data, etc. • Frame and solve ambiguous problems, derive data-driven conclusions, and communicate findings to senior stakeholders. • Collaborate with Product and Engineering partners developing the Waymo Driver and Waymo’s simulation software; facilitate deployment readiness decisions for both products. You have: • Degree in a quantitative field (e.g. Statistics, Mathematics, Physics) • 3+ years of industry experience solving data science problems or a PhD in a quantitative field • Expertise using advanced statistical methods in an applied setting; familiarity with ML systems/models • Demonstrated knowledge of Python/SQL/R data analysis libraries and packages We prefer: • PhD in a quantitative field • Experience solving problems related to Autonomous Driving or Ride Hailing • Experience in adjacent relevant areas like Advanced Machine Learning (Deep Learning and Diffusion models), Traffic Modeling, Safety Evaluation or Prediction 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 $170,000 — $216,000 USD