Vehicle Validation Engineer
As an Autonomous Vehicle Test Engineer at Wayve, you will play a key role in enabling the real-world deployment of our end-to-end AI driving systems. You will ensure our vehicles are ready for testing and that test activities deliver high-quality, reliable data to accelerate development. Joining at an early stage, you will help shape how we test and operate autonomous vehicles at scale—developing validation approaches, improving systems, and working closely with engineering, product, and operations teams to push the boundaries of what is possible. Beyond test execution, you will contribute to how vehicle performance is evaluated and communicated, helping provide meaningful feedback on system behavior, performance gaps, and real-world driving quality from a customer perspective.
Key responsibilities include planning and executing vehicle tests to support development, validation, benchmarking, and real-world deployment. You will develop and improve vehicle validation test concepts to evaluate system performance across a range of real-world scenarios. Collaborating closely with engineering, product, and operations teams, you will translate testing needs into effective test activities. Ensuring vehicles are prepared, maintained, and consistently ready for safe and efficient testing is also a critical part of the role. Additionally, you will deliver high-quality test data, performance reporting, and actionable insights to support rapid iteration and decision-making. Providing detailed feedback on vehicle behavior, driving performance, and system gaps from both technical and customer perspectives, conducting benchmarking activities to evaluate system performance and track progress over time, and developing and improving testing processes, documentation, and operational best practices as the team scales are also key aspects of the position. Managing relationships with external suppliers and service partners is another important responsibility.
The ideal candidate will have experience with CANalyzer, CANoe, or similar tools for vehicle diagnostics, along with vehicle instrumentation and data logging tools such as Vector, ETAS, or Racelogic. Experience executing structured vehicle tests in proving ground and/or real-world environments is essential. Comfort working across Linux, Windows, and SSH-based environments is required. The ability to interpret technical requirements and translate them into clear test cases and validation plans is crucial. Strong communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across engineering, product, and operations teams, are necessary. A proactive, hands-on approach with a focus on improving processes, tools, and ways of working is valued. Understanding of safe testing practices and risk assessments in safety-critical environments is important. The ability to analyze test data and deliver clear, actionable insights to engineering teams is also required.
Desirable skills and experience include working with autonomous vehicle or ADAS systems, familiarity with scripting or data tools such as Python or MATLAB for analysis or automation, understanding of vehicle networks (CAN, LIN, Ethernet) and diagnostic protocols, exposure to simulation or test environments such as HiL or SiL, and awareness of automotive safety standards or regulatory frameworks like ISO 26262.
This is a full-time role based in our office in Sunnyvale. At Wayve, we want the best of all worlds, so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships, and learning, and time spent working from home.