Senior Staff Data Architect

• Define and drive the global architectural roadmap for Waymo’s Data Lake, governing the transition from ad-hoc processing to a production-grade, highly scalable analytical ecosystem
• Serve as the ultimate Tech Lead (TL) over cross-domain data pipelines, governing dependencies and maintaining platform consistency across both centralized infrastructure and embedded product domains
• Champion and enforce linear DAG architectures and modern Lakehouse/Medallion standards to untangle highly coupled, opaque “spaghetti” lineage
• Chair centralized Data Design Review forums, establishing unified standards for modularized code, testing suite enforcement, DAG dependency registration, and environmentalization
• Architect common, self-service frameworks and “Managed Pipeline Services” (like hardened wrappers and templates) for downstream consumption by Data Engineers and Product Data Scientists
• Oversee core integration strategies for Data Governance, ensuring privacy (GDPR), access Control (IAM/RBAC), and pipeline compliance are deeply baked into core architecture

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents
• Employee assistance programs focused on mental health
• Personalized workplace adjustments for diverse needs and abilities, including physical, mental, and neurodivergent considerations
• Access to mental health apps
• Onsite wellness centers
• Counseling services
• Second medical opinion for you and your loved ones
• Medical advocacy program for transgender employees
• Support programs including menopause benefit
• Competitive compensation
• Regular bonus and equity performance grant opportunities
• Generous 401(k) and regional retirement plans
• Annual cross-company compensation review and pay equity analysis
• 1-on-1 financial coaching
• Fertility and growing family assistance
• Parental leave and baby bonding leave
• Survivor income benefit
• Elder care and support
• Backup childcare
• Caregiver leave
• Paid time off, including vacation, bereavement, sick leave, parental leave, disability, and holidays
• Jury duty leave
• Military leave
• Hybrid work model with remote work opportunities also available
• Educational reimbursement
• Peer learning and coaching platform
• Donation matching programs
• Volunteer hours
• Employee resource groups
• Internal community groups and local culture clubs
• Inspiring spaces to work, recharge, and collaborate with fellow Waymonauts
• On-site meals and snacks
• Fitness centers, massage programs, and ergonomic support
• On-demand fitness, wellbeing, and cooking classes
• Commuter benefits- Deep experience driving a data infrastructure org through rapid growing phrase, effectively balancing speed for analysts with central governance guardrails
• Proven track record of being the Lead Architect driving significant data governance and data platform maturity transitions (e.g., ad-hoc ➔ standardized)
• Highly effective cross-functional influencer; capable of driving alignment across hundreds of Stakeholders (Director+ levels, Embedded Eng, Data Science)
• Expert-level technical depth in distributed batch/streaming frameworks (e.g., C++, Flume, Apache Spark, Flink)
• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent
• 12+ years of experience leading the design, implementation, and operations of multi-Petabyte Data Lake/Data Warehouse solutions in high-growth companies
• Hands-on knowledge of cloud-native or internal release hardening ecosystems (e.g., Canary/CAS, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration)
• High proficiency with Google-internal pipeline/data stacks (Flume, SQLP, Rapid, CAS, F1)