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2027 Summer Intern, PhD, Machine Learning - Simulation & Closed-Loop Training

Waymo· Software Engineering
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Mountain View, CA$85/hrFull-timePosted 5d ago

About the role

Internship for PhD students in Machine Learning focusing on reinforcement learning, world models, and closed-loop simulation for autonomous driving at Waymo. Hybrid onsite internship in Mountain View, CA.

Responsibilities

  • Design, implement, and scale Reinforcement Learning post-training and distillation algorithms (such as flow or diffusion policy optimization, off-policy importance sampling, and constrained multi-objective RL) for foundation world models in simulation and autonomous driving
  • Develop learned reward models, realism critics, and discriminators within a closed-loop multi-agent simulator to align simulated agent and driving behaviors with human driving realism and safety
  • Run rigorous closed-loop ablation studies on large-scale TPU clusters—leveraging agentic auto-research workflows and fleet-scale driving behavior metrics (such as route progress, braking comfort, lateral stability, and lane selection)—to mitigate simulator exploitation and distribution shift
  • Write clean, modular, and well-tested JAX code in core simulation and autonomous driving codebases, collaborating closely with researchers and engineers across simulation, world modeling, and autonomous driving teams

Qualifications

  • Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related technical field, with an anticipated graduation date between December 2027 and August 2028 (returning to a degree program for at least one academic term after the internship)
  • Core Implementation Fluency (Mandatory): Strong tensor implementation and debugging skills in Python and JAX/Flax or PyTorch, with hands-on experience training and modifying modern neural architectures (such as Transformers, Diffusion/Flow models, or deep RL networks)
  • Deep Research Expertise in Either (a) Reinforcement Learning & Post-Training OR (b) Generative World, Sequence, or Trajectory Modeling, with working familiarity in the other

Skills

Required:PythonJAX/Flax or PyTorchReinforcement Learning

Benefits

  • Generous benefits programs (eligible)
  • Flexible on-site or hybrid work model
  • Hourly pay: $85 USD per hour (upto full-time equivalent for internship)
  • Health and wellness benefits
  • Financial wellness
  • Education reimbursement
  • Personal and professional development
  • Employee resource groups and volunteer time off
  • Access to Google offices and wellness perks
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Waymo

The World’s Most Experienced Driver

Waymo—formerly the Google self-driving car project—makes it safe and easy for people & things to get around with autonomous vehicles.

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