Senior Program Manager - Ops Activation & Compliance

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.

The Regional Ops & Compliance - Market Entry senior program manager functions as the primary integration point for new international market entry, aligning global strategy with local execution requirements. This role serves as the authoritative lead for the international market or region, responsible for synthesizing complex inputs from operations, product, policy, and safety teams to ensure a unified launch. By acting as the single source of truth during the activation phase, this lead navigates dynamic regulatory environments and community nuances to translate local realities into actionable insights for global cross-functional and leadership teams. The core objective is to drive mission-critical readiness milestones and provide a clear framework for escalation and resolution, ensuring a seamless transition from initial market bring-up to stable, long-term commercial operations.

You will:

• Orchestrate Regional Workstreams: Lead daily synchronization between global engineering and local operational teams to ensure infrastructure, depot readiness, and vehicle deployment hit critical milestones.
• Act as the Regional Integration Point: Serve as the primary "bridge" between central product/policy teams and local realities, synthesizing complex regional nuances into actionable project plans.
• Drive Regulatory & Compliance Readiness: Manage the end-to-end permit lifecycle and audit operational logs to ensure 100% adherence to municipal requirements and European safety standards.
• Resolve Execution Bottlenecks: Function as the chief escalation point for local authorities and internal stakeholders, proactively unblocking technical or bureaucratic hurdles during the bring-up phase.
• Cultivate Local Ecosystems: Build strategic partnerships with emergency services, transit authorities, and community leaders to ensure safe integration and a positive public perception of the service.
• Secure Operational Stability: Oversee the transition from pilot testing to full commercial scaling, ensuring local feedback is integrated into the global product roadmap for long-term viability.

You have:

• Minimum 10+ years of experience in market expansion, operations management, or complex program leadership, specifically within the mobility, autonomous vehicle, or high-growth tech sectors.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in Operations or Management Consulting practices, handling fast scaling clients and complex project management.
• Demonstrated success in leading cycles of international market entries or large-scale operational rollouts within highly regulated urban environments.
• Proven ability to navigate complex European regulatory frameworks and a track record of maintaining strategic relationships with municipal transport authorities or government bodies.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical engineering constraints and operational risks into concise briefings for C-suite leadership and external stakeholders.
• Advanced data synthesis skills, with a measurable ability to convert operational metrics, local feedback, and pilot data into technical product requirements and actionable scaling plans.

We prefer:

• Experience leading go to market or operational scaling projects in top management consulting firms.
• Direct experience in the Autonomous Vehicle sector, with a deep understanding of L4 technology and the specific safety standards required for driverless commercial operations.
• Direct experience managing the physical and logistical requirements of urban infrastructure, such as depot mobilization, fleet deployment, or site readiness.
• Technical Product Fluency: Ability to engage deeply with engineering and product teams to translate complex AV sensor limitations or infrastructure requirements into local operational playbooks.
• Infrastructure & Depot Mobilization: Background in overseeing the physical setup of high-tech depots or electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs, including site selection and hardware installation oversight.
• Stakeholder Diplomacy: Advanced experience in public-sector engagement, specifically in educating local emergency services and transit authorities on the nuances of interacting with autonomous fleets.

The expected base salary range for this full‑time position 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. 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 £118,000—£124,000 GBP