Head of Physical Security Operations

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's cars may be self-driving, but its security program is steered by experts like you. Safety is our foundation and is at the heart of everything we do. As Waymo's Head of Physical Security Operations, you will be responsible for leading the next generation of our physical security operations program.

This is a senior leadership role focused on maturing and scaling our security operations to meet the needs of a rapidly growing business. You will be responsible for elevating our standards and driving performance. You will own the strategic vendor partnership for our national security services contract, ensuring a culture of accountability and excellence. You will also be a critical partner to our security technology, fleet operations, and business development teams, collaborating to optimize security and enable our scale.

You Will

• Take full ownership of the national security services contract, overseeing its budget, financial controls, and value optimization, as well as its operational performance. You will lead all vendor governance (QBRs, SLAs, KPIs) to mature the relationship into a transparent, accountable partnership.
• Refine, formalize, and scale the high-level Policies and Standards for all physical security operations, ensuring consistency across our complex and growing network of sites.
• Implement and manage a formal Quality Assurance (QA) program to audit all operations against your standards, track compliance, and drive a culture of continuous improvement.
• Lead all corporate security operations for our offices, depots, and charging hubs to ensure a safe and secure work environment. This includes managing visitor services, employee adherence to security standards, and special event security.
• Expertly advise internal teams (like fleet operations) and new strategic partners (like third-party operators), guiding them on security standards and establishing protocols for operational compliance.
• Collaborate with the Security Technology team to pilot and operationally test innovative solutions, with a shared goal of enhancing operational efficiency and security effectiveness.
• Travel up to 25% of time as needed for business purposes
  
  

You Have

• 10 years of progressive security experience, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role personally responsible for a large-scale, national services contract and its multi-million dollar budget.
• A proven track record of authoring, refining, and scaling foundational policies, standards, and strategic documents for both fleet and corporate environments.
• Experience implementing or managing a quality assurance, compliance, or audit program to enforce standards across a distributed organization.
• A history of managing a full-service corporate security program, including HQ operations, visitor management, access control adherence, and executive or event support.
• Deep domain expertise to act as a security consultant to the business, using data and standards to validate operational needs and drive efficient solutions.
• Experience partnering with technology, product, or R&D teams to pilot and integrate new solutions to optimize operations and enhance security posture.
  
  

We Prefer

• Experience in industries defined by high-value mobile assets and high-velocity, secure access (e.g., intermodal ports, pharmaceutical, high-tech, automotive manufacturing and logistics, e-commerce fulfillment).
• A track record of objective analysis and program implementation within highly matrixed organizations where speed, flexibility and attention to detail are the norm.
• Experience designing and scaling the team structure and operational model for a rapidly growing, multi-site company.
• Familiarity with the operational support components of crisis management and corporate investigations.
• A passion for innovation and a proven ability to collaborate with technical teams to test and deploy new security solutions.
• Industry certifications such as Certified Protection Professional (CPP) or Physical Security Professional (PSP).
  
  

The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.

Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.

Salary Range

$226,000—$286,000 USD