Senior/Staff Data Scientist

Wayve is building an AI platform that enables autonomous vehicles to learn and adapt from real-world driving experience. Rather than relying on pre-mapped routes or coded rules, Wayve's end-to-end AI approach allows vehicles to understand their environment and improve continuously. The company partners with global automakers to deploy this technology across different vehicle types and geographies, working toward fully autonomous driving capabilities.

The Product Dependability team at Wayve bridges the gap between advanced AI technology and the practical demands of automotive products. This team works across systems engineering, safety, cybersecurity and data analysis to translate AI capabilities into reliable vehicle behavior. As a Senior Data Scientist on this team, you would use data to evaluate how driving models perform in the real world, understand where they fall short, and ensure evaluation methods match what customers actually need.

What you'll do

• Analyze target markets to understand road infrastructure, weather conditions, traffic patterns, local driving behaviors and regulatory requirements across different regions.

• Define operational design domains (ODD), edge cases and potential failure points to guide data collection strategy and system design decisions.

• Map driving competencies required in each region by quantifying complexity and frequency using traffic data and real-world observations.

• Investigate model performance metrics and driving patterns to identify data gaps, high-risk edge cases and opportunities for improvement.

• Use historical data and statistical modeling to understand factors that affect system reliability and mean time between failures.

• Translate findings into data strategies, technical requirements and deployment recommendations that work across teams.

What you'll bring

• Seven or more years of experience in systems engineering, automotive data analysis, data science or related fields.

• Knowledge of traffic regulations and human driving behaviors across multiple geographies.

• Proficiency with Python, SQL, GIS and Jupyter notebooks, plus experience handling large datasets on platforms like Databricks.

• Ability to visualize and communicate ODD and scenario coverage metrics, turning complex analysis into clear recommendations.

• Cross-functional collaboration skills that translate domain analysis into technical and product requirements.

• Strong execution mindset and comfort working in a fast-scaling, agile environment.

Nice to have

• Experience defining or analyzing ODDs for autonomous vehicles or advanced driver assistance systems.

• Master's degree or PhD in Physics, Statistics or Mathematics with focus on traffic modeling, autonomous driving deployment or urban mobility.

What they offer

• Full-time hybrid position based in Sunnyvale, California.