Market Operations Lead - Germany

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 Operations exists to deliver the Waymo Driver to the world. We are a global team building and scaling the world's first and leading autonomous fleet and operations platform. From component sourcing to end customer management, we enable and create value for Waymo through scaled and orchestrated deployment of the Waymo Driver. At Waymo, we are dedicated to building a culture that promotes collaboration and celebration. We value our team members' unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences and support and encourage all team members to share their ideas to help Waymo better serve the communities in which we operate.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule and reports to the Director of Operations, Europe Lead

You will:

• Transformational Strategy & Market Vision: Define and drive the multi-year Germany operational strategy and market expansion roadmap; anticipate industry, competitive, and technological shifts to transform regional operations into a sustainable, high-growth commercial enterprise aligned with global business objectives.
• Holistic Safety Governance & Operational Resilience: Exercise end-to-end organizational accountability for safety standards, regulatory compliance (including autonomous vehicle operational permits and federal safety frameworks), and operational resilience, embedding a culture of safety and public trust across all German sites and partner networks.
• Ecosystem Architecture & Launch-to-Scale Transformation: Architect and oversee the end-to-end "launch-to-scale" operating framework and infrastructure blueprint across multiple German hubs and municipalities; pioneer scalable partner ecosystems (3PLs, fleet management, infrastructure, and depot operations) that set the standard for broader European expansion.
• Strategic Alliances & Authoritative Representation: Serve as the authoritative domain leader and key representative to German federal authorities, municipal transit agencies, key industry alliances, and community stakeholders, shaping progressive regulatory policies and securing critical operational rights-of-way.
• Cross-Organizational & Systems Integration: Transcend organizational boundaries to align regional operations with Global Product, Software/Hardware Engineering, Systems Safety, and Legal teams; synthesize on-the-ground operational intelligence to fundamentally guide global vehicle architecture and software development roadmaps for European urban environments.
• Executive Stewardship & People/Community Leadership: Direct regional P&L, resource allocation, and capital investments to maximize long-term operational efficiency; actively nurture the regional and global Program Management talent pipeline, build and mentor high-performing leadership tiers, and champion enterprise-wide operational citizenship.

You have:

• Transformational Operational Leadership: 15+ years of experience leading large-scope, multi-facility operations, technology deployment, logistics, or transportation systems at an executive or senior program management level.
• Germany & European Market Entry in OEM or automotive industry: Proven track record of launching, scaling, and transforming complex operations within Germany, demonstrating experience working closely with  local labor law aspects (Works Councils), municipal infrastructure, and commercial expansion.
• Safety-Critical & Regulatory Mastery: Recognized expertise navigating complex German/EU regulatory frameworks, managing safety-critical operational environments, and establishing institutional risk governance.
• Cross-Boundary Problem Solving & Governance: Demonstrated success setting operational vision, establishing executive governance mechanisms, driving large-scale change management, and designing metrics frameworks that transform organizational effectiveness.
• Strategic Product & Technical Integration: Proven capability to partner as a peer with engineering, systems development, and product executives to integrate complex autonomous hardware/software platforms into live field operations.
• P&L Stewardship & Talent Development: Demonstrated track record of full P&L oversight, strategic multi-million-euro budget management, and successfully developing future organizational leaders.

We prefer:

• Autonomous Mobility & Advanced Tech Leadership: Direct leadership experience within the autonomous vehicle (AV), robotics, or high-tech mobility ecosystem, with deep familiarity with autonomous driving system deployment and safety cases.
• Advanced Education: Master’s degree, MBA, or advanced degree in Engineering, Operations Research, Logistics, or related technical field.
• Multi-Market European Scaling: Experience leading multi-city, cross-border operational rollouts and establishing international operating blueprints.
• Operational Excellence: Master Black Belt / Lean Six Sigma certification or equivalent mastery in systems design, continuous improvement, and operational transformation.
• Language Proficiency: Professional working fluency in German and English.