Jobs / United States / Waymo LLC
Staff Systems Engineer, Hardware Architecture
Waymo LLC · 🇺🇸 Mountain View, CA, 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 roles9 certified filings for “Systems Engineer” (Mechanical Engineers) in CA: $187k–$235k, median $230k. Most were filed at wage level IV (63%) — 4 lottery entries, ≈61% 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).
A verdict summarises public evidence; it is not legal advice and never a guarantee — the employer and the immigration authority decide. Sign in to factor in where you can already work.
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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. Hardware Engineering is a diverse, innovative, and collaborative group of electrical, mechanical, reliability, software and vehicle engineers. We design, build, and perfect the products which are the eyes and ears of Waymo's autonomous driving technology, and integrate those products into vehicle platforms. We're seeking curious and talented teammates to keep us moving in the right direction. This role follows a hybrid work schedule and you will report to a Systems Architect You will: • Lead and conduct complex, multi-attribute trade studies to define the architecture of the next-generation Waymo Driver, balancing performance, reliability, cost, and other key factors • Develop and analyze architectural options for the overall Self-Driving System, with a strong emphasis on safety via robust fallback systems and high reliability • Collaborate with and drive alignment across diverse engineering teams (Software, Hardware, Sensing, Compute, Safety, Reliability) to make holistic and informed architectural decisions • Define key system interfaces and behaviors, ensuring a cohesive and well-integrated system design • Create and present clear and compelling technical recommendations to senior leadership and stakeholders, justifying architectural choices with data and analysis • Work closely with systems engineering to decompose architectural decisions into clear requirements for subsystem development • Manage and guide architectural change across current and future SDS generations, ensuring consistency and a clear evolution path You have: • A bachelor's degree in Engineering (e.g., EE, ME, CS, Aerospace) or a related technical field • 5+ years of experience in systems architecture, systems engineering, or complex system design, preferably in autonomous vehicles, aerospace, or robotics • Proven ability to lead and execute complex technical trade studies involving multiple disciplines and competing objectives • Strong understanding of the underlying principles for design for high availability and safety-critical applications • Deep understanding of autonomous system components and their functionality in at least one major area (Sensing, Compute, Software, Networking/ interconnections, Cleaning) • Exceptional cross-functional communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority We prefer: • Experience with functional safety (ISO 26262) and SOTIF (ISO 21448) • Experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools and methodologies (e.g., SysML) • Knowledge of reliability engineering analysis techniques (e.g., FMEA, FTA, Weibull analysis) • Experience with performance modeling and simulation of complex systems 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 specifi