{"id":2409670,"url":"https://alion.io/job/waymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2","title":"Research Scientist, World Model Post-Training","company":{"id":98,"name":"Waymo","domain":"waymo.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/waymo","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":84,"open_postings":138,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.449,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":76,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Mountain View, United States","San Francisco, United States","New York, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":213000,"max":263000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":263000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"JAX","optional":false},{"name":"Knowledge Distillation","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Model Distillation","optional":false},{"name":"Post-training","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"TensorFlow","optional":false},{"name":"World Models","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-22T16:48:50Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-02","last_verified_at":"2026-10-19T02:32:14Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":26,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":26},"description":"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.\nThe mission of the Waymo AI Foundations team is to develop machine learning solutions addressing open problems in autonomous driving, towards the goal of safely operating Waymo vehicles in dozens of cities and under all driving conditions. As part of our work, we also initiate and foster collaborations with other research teams in Alphabet. AI Foundations areas that we are currently focusing on include reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, generative modeling, Bayesian inference, hierarchical learning, and robust evaluation.\nIn this hybrid role, you will report to a Software Engineering Manager.\nYou will:\nConduct applied world model research and development\nPost-train Waymo’s world model\nDesign compelling experiments by training and evaluating large generative models\nPresent results to peers and leadership\nLeverage AI to write high quality code, unit tests, and documentation, and automate workflows\nYou have:\nMasters or PhD in deep learning in generative / world modeling\n3+ years of experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., JAX, TensorFlow 2, Pytorch)\nExperience with diffusion / flow matching models\nExperience with reinforcement learning\nExperience training large foundational models\nWe prefer:\nExperience with post-training of foundational models\nExperience with reinforcement learning for diffusion / flow matching models\nExperience with distillation\nExperience with autonomous vehicles\nThe 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. \nWaymo 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. \nSalary Range\n$213,000—$263,000 USD","description_format":"text","description_chars":2820,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"master","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-13T01:49:48Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 331 · green card filings: 28","filings_12m":331,"filings_prev_12m":227,"green_card_filings_12m":28,"median_offered_wage_usd":206330,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":261}],"liveness":{"score":85,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.846,"p_room":1,"age_days":24,"expected_fill_days":76,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":263000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/waymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/waymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-19T04:33:31Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":2684,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-20T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":98},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=98"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fwaymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fwaymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fwaymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/waymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fwaymo-research-scientist-world-model-post-training-2"}]}