Senior Occupant Package and Human Factors Engineer

About the role

This position defines occupant comfort rules and validates human factors within autonomous vehicle cabins. The role holder owns the human factors validation for vehicle cabins and ensures spatial targets meet class leading expectations. The individual translates ergonomic needs into build concepts that support rider-only trips. The position operates within a hybrid work schedule and involves global collaboration.

Key facts

What you'll do

Drive ergo bucks and physical mocks to confirm spatial concepts before build.

Set comfort and visibility targets with regulators and partners using regulations guidance.

Run user clinics on prototype cabins to capture rider feedback and refine layouts.

Create requirement documents that balance OEM constraints with Waymo interior goals.

Maintain digital models and ergonomic data to track changes across vehicle programs.

Shape occupant layout directions with product teams to keep ride experience consistent.

Evaluate competitor cabins to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Support integration of hardware changes into virtual validation workflows.

Requirements

Hold five or more years of experience in automotive human factors and occupant packaging.

Understand SAE standards and FMVSS/ECE regulations for visibility and spaciousness targets.

Use RAMSIS, CAVA, and Catia CAD to build two dimensional and three dimensional vehicle layouts.

Negotiate requirements with suppliers and partners while managing conflicting needs.

Nice to have

Experience in electric vehicles and future mobility sectors outside traditional ownership.

Skills & tools

RAMSIS, CAVA, Catia CAD.

Practical notes

Responsibilities aligned with Waymo operations

The role develops and documents human factors, occupant packages, and comfort requirements within the vehicle design space. It benchmarks competitor vehicles to validate target metrics, ensuring Waymo delivers class leading occupant accommodation, ergonomics, and comfort. The position works with Waymo's Product, Design, and Attribute Teams to develop occupant layouts and integrate ergonomic and comfort requirements into new vehicle platforms centered around AV and TaaS. It builds, maintains, and utilizes ergo bucks and physical hardware mockups to evaluate and validate spatial target concepts. The role develops and runs user clinics on the ergo buck to gather customer feedback.

Requirements in context

The position requires five plus years of related experience in the field of automotive human factors and occupant packaging. It requires deep knowledge of vehicle comfort and ergonomics, with hands on experience in both subjective and quantitative evaluation methods. It requires understanding of SAE standards and FMVSS/ECE regulations to guide occupant layout creation, spaciousness, and visibility targets. It requires experience with RAMSIS, CAVA, and Catia CAD tools to create, integrate and maintain 2D/3D vehicle package layouts and ergonomic evaluations. It requires proven ability to establish and negotiate targets and requirements with OEMs, partners, and suppliers. It requires ability to navigate ambiguity and find a clear path forward to resolve seemingly conflicting requirements.

Preferred qualifications in context

The role prefers a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a Master's degree preferred. It prefers experience in the future mobility sector, such as outside of the traditional OEM/personal car ownership model. It prefers background working across multiple OEMs, providing a broad perspective on diverse Product Development methodologies. It prefers experience in occupant packaging and vehicle layout specific to Electric Vehicles (EVs). It prefers strong passion for the Autonomous Vehicle (AV) industry and how it is reshaping future mobility.

Compensation, benefits, and travel

The expected base salary range for this full time position across US locations is 133,200 USD to 203,600 USD. 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. Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo's discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and other benefits.

Global travel is required for on site OEM engagements, allocated at 10 percent. Occasional travel to other Waymo locations, suppliers, and service providers is required on an as needed basis, allocated at 10 percent.

Connection to Waymo mission and operations

This role supports Waymo's 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, referred to as 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 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 plus U.S. states. Hardware Engineering is a diverse, innovative, and collaborative group of electrical, mechanical, reliability, software and vehicle engineers who design, build, and perfect the products which are the eyes and ears of Waymo's autonomous driving technology, and integrate those products into vehicle platforms. This role advances custom vehicle development for optimized customer experiences.