Vehicle Safety Operator
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 26, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 5, 2026.
Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.
We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.
Here’s what this particular role covers.
About our Vehicle Operations Teams
Our world-class, diverse Vehicle Operations team is dedicated to testing and advancing our autonomous driving technology across Germany. As a Vehicle Safety Operator, you will be at the heart of our real-world AI development, running on-road experiments, providing actionable feedback, and upholding the highest safety standards in collaboration with our research and development teams.
Your day-to-day
Conduct on-road experiments and testing with our vehicles throughout Germany, ensuring all activities are safe and efficient.
Monitor artificial intelligence systems while driving, actively responding to any hazards to guarantee safe operation.
Evaluate vehicle and AI performance during tests, providing structured, expert feedback to engineering and research teams.
Support safety and engineering processes by identifying and reporting safety and vehicle maintenance issues.
Deliver real-world driving input to help train and refine our AI before public road testing.
What you’ll be working on
Testing and evaluating autonomous vehicle technology in actual road scenarios.
Reporting system feedback and real-world driving insights to help improve our AI’s performance.
Maintaining safety standards, supporting incident reporting, and collaborating on issue resolution with engineering and safety teams.
Travelling nationally and internationally as required for tests and demonstrations.
You should apply if
Hold a full, clean German driving licence.
Have at least 5 years' driving experience, primarily in Germany, with no blameworthy insurance claims in the past three years.
Fluent in English and German.
Strong communicator who shows empathy and teamwork.
Comfortable working independently and as part of a team.
Adaptable, flexible, and motivated to solve problems with innovative solutions.
Proficient in Microsoft Office suite or equivalent (Google Suite).
Familiar with basic navigation, touchscreen gestures, typing, text editing, managing device settings, using basic apps, and troubleshooting.
Able to work scheduled shifts (Monday to Sunday, 40 hours per week, with a rota issued 4 weeks in advance; shifts include 06:30-15:00 and 14:30-23:00, weekend work required).
Will disclose any secondary employment as part of the application process.
Willing to complete a health check (before/after offer) and disclose any conditions affecting safe operation.
Able to pass pre-employment and ongoing drug and alcohol testing (including testing during onsite interview).
Desirable:
Experience in vehicle testing, AV environments, or technical demonstrations.
Knowledge of AV technology or autonomous systems.
Customer-facing or hospitality experience.
T1 and T2 Bertha certification.
Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.
Important details about the role:
This is a 1-year Fixed Term Contract (FTC), based onsite at our office in Leonberg.
National and international travel is required.
Please consider your commute: if your one-way journey is over 1.5 hours, it may not be practical for this role.
On-site parking is currently available but cannot be guaranteed as the team grows.
More about Wayve:
Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.
Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.
How we work - Locations & Flexible Working:
Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.
The Interview Process:
Our process is clear and respectful of your time:
Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins)
Driving Licence Check
Driving Assessment
Drug & Alcohol Test
Final interview: mission & values alignment
We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.
A quick, honest note before you apply.
Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.
If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you.
At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.
For more information visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve
DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.