VP Engineering, Robotaxi

Job description

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve. We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that. Here’s what this particular role covers. 🛠️ About our Engineering Teams Wayve is building a new generation of autonomous driving technology powered by end-to-end AI. Our Robotaxi Engineering team is responsible for turning that intelligence into a complete Level 4 autonomous driving system that can operate safely and reliably in the real world. This is one of Wayve’s most important engineering leadership roles. As VP, Engineering, Robotaxi, you will lead the engineering organisation responsible for taking our Robotaxi product from development through deployment and scale. The challenge is inherently multidisciplinary. Delivering a Robotaxi requires bringing together AI, onboard software, vehicle systems, sensors and compute, safety, validation, simulation and fleet operations into one coherent system. You will lead across those boundaries, setting the technical direction and building the organisation required to deliver a safe, scalable L4 product. 🧠 Your day-to-day You will own the engineering strategy and execution for Wayve’s Robotaxi program, working closely with leaders across AI, Product, Validation, Vehicle Engineering and Operations. You will set clear technical priorities for the organisation and ensure teams are solving the right problems in the right order as we move towards increasingly capable driverless operation. A major part of the role is systems leadership. You will work across the complete autonomous vehicle, understanding how AI behaviour, onboard software, compute, sensors, vehicle interfaces, safety systems and operational infrastructure come together to determine real-world performance. You will lead and develop senior engineering leaders, create clear ownership across the organisation and build the technical and operating mechanisms required to execute at speed. You’ll also spend significant time close to the product itself, using real-world vehicle performance, testing and data to understand where the system needs to improve and helping teams turn those insights into engineering priorities. 🧩 What you’ll be working on - L4 Robotaxi engineering: Own the engineering roadmap and execution required to develop and deploy Wayve’s Level 4 Robotaxi product. - End-to-end system leadership: Bring together AI, software, hardware, vehicle systems, validation and operations into a complete autonomous system. - Driver-out readiness: Drive the engineering work required to progressively remove the safety driver, building confidence through rigorous development, validation and evidence. - On-vehicle systems: Lead the development and integration of the software and systems that sit between Wayve’s AI Driver and the physical vehicle. - Safety and reliability: Work closely with Validation, Safety and Engineering teams to build the technical systems and evidence required for safe driverless deployment. - Real-world performance: Establish tight feedback loops between fleet behaviour, engineering development, validation and release so that what happens on the road directly informs what we build next. - Technical architecture: Make and influence critical architectural decisions across a complex combination of AI, software, compute, sensors and vehicle systems. - Engineering execution: Turn ambitious technical goals into clear priorities, ownership and milestones while maintaining a high engineering bar. - Organisation building: Build, lead and develop a world-class engineering organisation, including senior engineering leaders and deeply technical individual contributors. - Cross-functional leadership: Partner closely with Wayve’s AI, Product, Validation, Application Engineering and Operations organisations to deliver the complete Robotaxi product. 🙌 You should apply if - You have led a significant engineering organisation building autonomous vehicles, robotics or another complex real-world autonomous system. - You have experience developing and deploying safety-critical software and hardware systems in the physical world, rather than purely cloud or consumer software products. - You have strong technical depth across complex software systems and can operate credibly with senior engineers across AI, embedded software, systems and hardware. - You understand the challenges involved in taking autonomous technology from development and testing into real-world, production-grade operation. - You have experience owning a complex product or system end-to-end, rather than leading only one narrow component of the technology stack. - You have demonstrated strong systems thinking, with the ability to reason across software, hardware, vehicle behaviour, safety, reliability and oper