Join the World's Top Legal Talent Network

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going. Since our start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has been focused on building the World’s Most Experienced Driver in hopes of improving the world's access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. Our Waymo Driver powers Waymo One, our fully autonomous ride-hailing service, as well as Waymo Via, our trucking and local delivery service. To date, Waymo has driven over 20 million miles autonomously on public roads across 25 U.S. cities and conducted over 20 billion miles of simulation testing.

As part of Waymo's Legal team, you will work on the exciting legal issues surrounding our transformational autonomous driving technology and help drive our business lines forward from technology ideation through scaled commercial deployment. We partner with our public policy, safety, security and privacy experts to define transportation policy for the autonomous driving world to come, advising on regulatory changes that support and protect our users around the world. We collaborate with our engineering, product, strategy and operations teams to develop and protect our intellectual property portfolio and drive our corporate and commercial transactions. We ensure compliance with an increasingly complex and dynamic range of global regulations. And we anticipate, mitigate, and litigate high-profile and precedent-setting legal matters.

In this role, you'll:

• Actively manage a patent portfolio, including determine strategic areas for patenting, conduct patent harvest sessions, manage invention disclosures, identify patentable subject matter, and manage outside patent counsel to ensure quality and timely work product
• Develop a macro view of the portfolio being managed and strategically prosecute patent applications to maximize value
• Generally educate researchers, engineers and business teams on IP issues and provide counsel on IP terms in commercial and corporate matters
• Manage responses to IP related communications, working cross-functionally across the legal and business teams, including potentially evaluating acquisition and licensing opportunities

At a minimum we’d like you to have:

• Admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and 5+ years of relevant legal experience
• Solid technical background/understanding of autonomous vehicle related hardware, including sensor technologies, and software, preferably related to AI/machine learning
• Eagerness to work in a startup environment and flexibly roll up your sleeves as an individual contributor to help drive our fast-paced and dynamic business within a rapidly-developing and emerging industry
• Execution-oriented individual with strong interpersonal, communication, and team skills. Ability to present to engineering teams and senior management
• Demonstrated experience in three or more of the following: identifying patentable technologies, patent analysis, acquisition, licensing, litigation, and/or handling of third party demands

It’s preferred if you have:

• JD degree with a strong academic record, state bar membership, and 8+ years of relevant legal experience
• Prior firm experience preparing and prosecuting patents worldwide
• Prior in-house experience working side-by-side with engineers, supply chain, marketing, and leadership to spot, address, and counsel on IP issues
• Experience with technology licensing and patent litigation
• Knowledge of industry tools and resources to analyze patent portfolios
• Ability to understand cross-functional perspectives and navigate ambiguity. Ability to identify and create streamlined processes to support a growing company
• Experience developing integrated IP strategies that support business goals