UX Designer, Design System at Waymo

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. Design at Waymo is about the total experience—not just how the product looks, but how it works, how it feels, and how we make our new technology accessible, approachable, and useful for everyone. We design the intuitive, delightful experience for our riders, and we also build the powerful, complex tools used by our fleet operations teams and the engineers who build the Waymo Driver. We are a highly multidisciplinary team of UX Designers, User and Market Researchers, UX Engineers, Content Designers, Industrial Designers, CAD Designers, Studio Engineers, and Technical Artists. We dig deep to understand the attitudes, emotions, and behaviors of all our users. This understanding serves as the foundation for everything we create. In this hybrid role, you will report to a UX Manager. You will: • Architect and steward the Waymo Design System by defining foundational patterns that bridge the gap between digital interfaces and physical rider behaviors, ensuring a seamless end-to-end journey • Establish and evolve best-in-class design standards, strategically leveraging emerging AI technologies to automate and improve design system documentation and delivery • Forge deep cross-functional partnerships with Engineering and Product to institutionalize the Design System, reducing technical debt, and accelerating speed-to-market for new features • Advocate for design excellence at every level, balancing short-term product goals with long-term system integrity to drive rider trust and brand loyalty • Operationalize User Experience Research (UXR) insights into scalable system components, identifying recurring friction points in the rider journey and solving them through systematic design interventions • Champion the evolution of autonomous transportation UX, mentoring junior designers and pushing the boundaries of mobile and HMI (Human-Machine Interface) design to further Waymo’s mission to make transportation safe and easy for everyone You have: • 7+ years of experience in UX and/or Product Design with a proven track record of architecting and maintaining large-scale Design Systems (libraries of 30+ complex components) from the ground up • A portfolio of work demonstrating a mastery of systems thinking, including defining and documenting Design Tokens (color, typography, elevation, spacing, and shape) to ensure a single source of truth across platforms • Expert proficiency in Figma with deep technical expertise in Variables, Auto-layout, Component Properties, and Variants, with a focus on creating "designer-centric" libraries that are intuitive for other UI designers to use • Passion for the "internal UX" of a design system — ensuring documentation is clear and the component architecture reduces technical debt for the entire organization • Proven track record of cross-functional leadership, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and align diverse stakeholders (Eng, PM, Data Science) around a unified design vision • Extensive experience designing adaptive components that transition seamlessly across mobile, tablet, and specialized automotive or HMI displays • Deep knowledge of WCAG and GAR requirements, with specific experience optimizing for different input methods (Tap vs. Cursor) and legibility in high-stakes environments We prefer: • Proven track record of architecting experiences across a diverse ecosystem, including mobile, tablets, foldables, and high-density HMI (In-car displays). You understand how to maintain system logic across varied aspect ratios, input methods (voice, touch, haptics), and viewing distances • Demonstrated success in driving adoption across large, multi-disciplinary organizations, including establishing contribution models for new patterns • Ability to use qualitative research and quantitative data to validate the efficiency and effectiveness of a design system • MA/MS or equivalent experience in HCI, Interaction Design, or a related field Travel requirements: • Occasional travel to a city where Waymo operates may be expected The 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. Waymo 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. Salary Range$230,000—$292,000 USD