People Strategy Manager

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 People team recruits and supports the world’s best talent. Our business partners, program leaders, staffers, and compensation specialists help our employees attain their full potential in a healthy, considerate and supportive environment. We take our role as stewards of Waymo's culture seriously.

People Strategy keeps Waymo's People team ahead of the business as its central go-to-market partner. We run People priorities as one portfolio, sequencing launches and building scalable infrastructure to support Waymo's scaled expansion. We're operators who own outcomes end-to-end: no task too small, no idea too big.

In this hybrid role you will be based out of Mountain View, CA or San Francisco, CA and report to our Head of People Strategy.

You will:

Drive the People team's most important work across priorities, products, growth and emerging needs. You'll be both strategist and operator: shaping the plan, then executing it with partners. You'll start with a focus area, then flex to wherever the business needs you most, from building new programs to strengthening ones already running. Your first focus is growth and expansion

Orchestrate the People team's international expansion: set cross-functional governance and drive market-entry compliance, entity setup and staffing models across a multi-year roadmap, enabling People Business Partners to deploy with their business leaders

Partner with Finance on workforce planning and set Waymo's workforce and location strategy, equipping People Business Partners to design and execute plans with their business leaders

Distill complex, ambiguous growth challenges into clear problem statements, options and recommendations for senior leaders

Navigate sensitive cross-functional issues with sound judgment and discretion, building the alignment needed to move work forward

You have:

12+ years of experience in People strategy or programs, corporate strategy, business operations, or program and portfolio management

Experience leading international expansion into highly regulated markets (e.g., entity setup, employment compliance, in-country hiring)

Experience building workforce plans, headcount models or location strategies with Finance and business leaders

Experience turning analysis into clear recommendations and narratives that move senior executives and cross-functional teams across geographies and time zones

Track record of operating independently once the goal is clear: taking initiative, making decisions, and knowing when to escalate

We prefer:

Experience working within a People function at a growing company

Experience moving work forward across many teams at any stage (shaping it, running it, or landing it), knowing when to own it and when to hand it off, and building trust along the way

Ability to adapt as priorities shift while leading several high-impact programs at once

Travel Requirements:

Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to ~10% of the time.

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 $190,000 — $234,000 USD