Senior Program Manager, AV Compliance - International Vehicle and Driver Compliance

As part of Waymo's Legal team, you will work on the exciting legal issues surrounding our transformational autonomous driving technology and help drive our business lines forward from technology ideation through scaled commercial deployment.  We partner with our public policy, safety, security and privacy experts to define transportation policy for the autonomous driving world to come, advising on regulatory changes that support and protect our users around the world.  We collaborate with our engineering, product, strategy and operations teams to develop and protect our intellectual property portfolio and drive our corporate and commercial transactions. We ensure compliance with an increasingly complex and dynamic range of global regulations. And we anticipate, mitigate, and litigate high-profile and precedent-setting legal matters.

In this hybrid role, you will report to the Senior Program Manager, AV Compliance - Vehicle & Driver Compliance

You will:

• Build relationships with regulators and lead the strategy to identify and secure contracts with potential vendors for scalable international vehicle compliance.
• Manage vehicle and driver compliance activities such as permitting and registration
• Oversee vendor partnerships for autonomous vehicles and operators, monitoring the health and compliance of operations through high-level program management.
• Architect and scale internal vehicle and driver compliance frameworks and automated processes to meet regulatory requirements in rapidly evolving global markets, including through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
• Design and implement comprehensive KPI frameworks and reporting structures to monitor, assess, and drive improvements in operational and vendor performance.
• Establish documentation standards for compliance processes and lead communication strategies for vendors and executive stakeholders.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with internal software development teams to build consistent, scalable technical solutions for evolving regulatory requirements.

You have:

• At least 5-6 years of experience in a regulatory compliance role, on a legal team, or in a dedicated partnership capacity, preferably within a safety-focused or transportation organization.

• Proven track record of managing complex vendor engagements or projects, including holding partners accountable to rigorous compliance and performance metrics.

• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to distill complex regulatory requirements into actionable guidance for diverse audiences.

• Advanced "gap-finding" and risk-assessment abilities, with experience proactively mitigating issues before they impact operations.

• High-level organizational and project management skills, with a demonstrated ability to lead initiatives from concept to completion.

• Systems-thinking mindset, with the ability to transform manual, repetitive tasks into sophisticated, automated workflows at scale.

We prefer:

• Strong technical aptitude with the ability to influence the development of proprietary software tools.

• Demonstrated resilience and leadership in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, with a focus on problem-solving.

• High EQ and mentorship mindset, with a history of scaling systems efficiently within a team.

• Deep expertise in transportation industry regulations, specifically involving autonomous vehicle technology and policy.

• Experience "owning the room" when conceptualizing and operationalizing new processes that close critical gaps in existing operational flows.

• Experience scaling a compliance program during a period of significant company growth or international expansion.

• Ability to speak multiple languages.

Travel Requirements:

10-12% International travel required through EMEA, APAC, and twice a year to HQ in California