Manufacturing Design Engineer (Japanese Bilingual)

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states. Waymo Operations exists to deliver the Waymo Driver to the world. We are a global team building and scaling the world's first and leading autonomous fleet and operations platform. From component sourcing to end customer management, we enable and create value for Waymo through scaled and orchestrated deployment of the Waymo Driver. At Waymo, we are dedicated to building a culture that promotes collaboration and celebration. We value our team members' unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences and support and encourage all team members to share their ideas to help Waymo better serve the communities in which we operate. This role follows an in-office work schedule and reports to the Manufacturing Engineering Manager, Vehicle Integration. You will: Independently drive vehicle manufacturing planning, including prototype/series builds, design reviews, requirements development, and build schedules for vehicle program life cycles. Ensure manufacturing execution plans are aligned with vehicle design requirements and product targets. Drive manufacturability to ensure vehicle hardware meets design intent while optimizing for cost and flexibility. Lead manufacturing design reviews to validate process flows, fixtures, tooling, and assembly protocols before design release and during subsequent change management. Define project scopes and drive cross-functional actions to meet program milestones. Serve as the technical lead for contract manufacturers, including up to 20% domestic/international travel for necessary support. You have: BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field. 7+ years of manufacturing engineering or planning experience specifically within the automotive or transportation sector. Proven hands-on experience in manufacturing process development and project management, with a track record of taking content from prototype to production. Understanding of DFA/DFM methodologies and manufacturing standard creation used to directly influence and optimize product designs. Extensive experience managing New Product Introductions (NPI), technical documentation, and complex product lifecycles in coordination with supply chain techniques. Proficient in collaborating and working cross functionally with development, operations, supply chain, contract manufacturers and system engineering teams. Fluency in technical Japanese We prefer: Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field. 10+ years of experience in manufacturing planning Prior team leading or guiding other team members on complex projects Experience with autonomous and/or electric vehicles Strong project management skills Travel requirements: Domestic/international travel (