Senior Seating and Restraints Architecture Engineer

About the role

This position is responsible for owning the end to end concept and architecture development of seating and restraint systems for Waymo's ride hailing operations. You will guide the design from initial sketches through production validation, ensuring that occupant experience, safety, and manufacturability are achieved. The role requires close collaboration with suppliers, partner OEMs, Waymo product teams, and integration groups to define concepts that support novel cabin topologies. You will translate high level comfort and safety targets into concrete restraint architectures and seating layouts. This position operates within the Hardware Engineering organization and reports to a Director, Concepts and Pre Program Development. The role follows a hybrid work schedule.

What you'll do

You will lead the concept and architecture development of unique seating systems tailored for ride hailing vehicles. This includes defining restraint systems that allow unique cabin configurations while maintaining safety and usability. You will set comfort targets and explore novel seat comfort concepts specifically optimized for ride hailing use cases. Benchmarking of competitor vehicles will be conducted to validate targets and ensure Waymo vehicles are class leading in accommodation, ergonomics, and comfort. You will support the optimization of ingress and egress for a highly diverse demographic across varied cabin topologies. The role involves championing the development and execution of user clinics to refine seat and restraint comfort for ride hailing. You will work with RAMSIS, CAVA, and Catia CAD tools to create, integrate, and maintain 2D and 3D seat concept layouts. Collaboration with Design Studio and CAE Analysis teams will be essential. You will also support the development and execution of validation activities, including simulation and build trials, to confirm seating performance early in the process. Partner OEM engagement will be led to align seating and restraint concepts with production requirements.

Key facts

Requirements

You must bring a minimum of 7 years of related experience in automotive seating and restraints concept development and execution. Hands on experience with seating comfort assessment is required, including both subjective evaluations and quantitative methods. A solid understanding of FMVSS, ECE, NCAP, and IIHS regulations and test protocols is necessary to inform restraint concept inputs. Proficiency with RAMSIS, CAVA, and Catia CAD tools is required to create and integrate seat concepts. Demonstrated ability to create and negotiate targets and requirements with OEMs and partner companies or suppliers is essential. You must be capable of working in ambiguous environments and finding paths forward to resolve conflicting requirements.

Nice to have

A Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering is required, with a Master's degree preferred. Experience in the future mobility sector, such as outside traditional OEM or personal car ownership models, is valued. Broader perspective on Product Development methodologies gained from experience at more than one OEM is beneficial. Experience in occupant package and vehicle layout specific to electric vehicles is preferred. An interest in the Autonomous Vehicle sector and how it shapes future mobility is expected.

Practical notes

Please Travel requirements include global travel for on-site OEM engagements, accounting for approximately 10 percent of duties, and occasional travel to other Waymo locations, suppliers, and service providers on an as needed basis, also approximately 10 percent.

About the company

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.