Shift Lead

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

🛠️ About our Fleet Operations Teams

Shift leads are a pivotal layer of management in our Fleet Operations, responsible for ensuring daily operations are conducted with the highest levels of safety and efficiency. They play a crucial role in fostering an inclusive working environment where Vehicle Safety Officers (VSOs) feel their ideas are valued and can voice safety concerns without fear. This role is vital, and candidates must possess exceptional skills and qualifications.

Location & Shift Expectations

Our current operational site is in Detroit, MI, where we carry out on-road testing and development operations. The successful candidate will be expected to be available to work in-person for each shift. Remote opportunities are not available for this position.

This role will be a 5x8 dedicated shift role although expect some movement to support customer needs.

🧠 Your day-to-day

As a Shift Lead, you will be responsible for managing a team of VSO’s to ensure that they are trained, motivated, and performing their roles safely and achieving operational hours.

• Leadership and Supervision: Lead a team of VSOs during a shift, providing guidance, support, and direction to ensure tasks are completed efficiently and effectively.

• Operational Management: Oversee the day-to-day operations within the shift, ensuring they meet the company's standards and goals. This includes managing work schedules, assigning tasks, and monitoring performance.

• Performance management: Line manage a group of VSOs who will operate across a rostered shift pattern, ensuring that you have face-to-face, documented contact with each member at least on a monthly basis.

• Customer Engagement: Engage with customers directly by being the central point of contact for specific OEM initiatives and cascading instructions to VSOs.

• Safety and Compliance: Ensure all operations comply with company policies and legal regulations. Promote a safe work environment by enforcing safety protocols.

• Quality Control: Monitor the quality of on-road testing during a shift to ensure they meet the required standards. Address any issues or discrepancies and highlight them to the Quality Assurance team.

• Problem Solving: Identify operational problems and challenges. Develop and implement practical solutions to overcome these issues, ensuring minimal disruption to the operations.

• Communication: Serve as the primary point of contact for the operations team during the shift. Communicate effectively with team members, management, and other departments to ensure a cohesive operation.

• Reporting and Documentation: Prepare and submit reports on shift activities, including performance metrics, incident reports, and any deviations from the standard operating procedures.

• Incident Management: Provide the initial point of contact for an on-road incident and initial ‘Operations Officer’ as per the company Major Incident Management Plan.

• Training and Development: Coordinate individual and collective training and development events with the Quality Assurance team.

• Continuous Improvement: Continuously seek ways to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness. Implement process improvements and best practices.

🧩 What you’ll be working on

• Leading a team of VSOs to achieve operational goals, maintain safety standards and ensure effective communication with both internal teams and external customers.

• Oversee shift operations, enforce protocols, identify issues, and drive continuous improvement in fleet operations.

• Engage with the Quality Assurance team to coordinate training and facilitate performance management.

• Act as the main point of contact in incident management and ensure proper reporting and documentation.

🙌 You should apply if

Essential

• You must be fluent in English

• You remain calm and controlled in a pressured environment

• You take on board feedback and learn from your mistakes, employing a growth mindset to the way you develop yourself

• You enjoy working with people, thriving in a team environment

• You know how to manage your wellbeing including fatigue, stress and have personal, proven strategies to do this

• Proven experience as a team coordinator or similar role

• Strong leadership and communication skills in a 1:1 capacity, downwards to your team, and upwards and laterally with your other stakeholders

• Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities

• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail

• Proficiency in Google Workspace or Microsoft Office suite

External candidates will also be evaluated on:

• Full clean driving licence

• At least 5 years' driving experience

• No blameworthy insurance claims in the past three years

• Strong driving skills and knowledge and willingness to continue developing

• All applications are required to disclose any second job as part of the application process

• Employment is contingent upon passing random drug and alcohol testing, in accordance with our Drugs & Alcohol policy.

🌱 Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.

More about Wayve:

🚀 Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work 💻- Locations & Flexible Working:

Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

🔍 The Interview Process:

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

Initial Call / Recruiter Screen (30 mins)

Competency Interviews: Hiring manager interview to go over people management, coaching, handling performance/disciplinary issues, communication; 2 hours total

Deep-dive Case Study Presentation: Scenario-based problem solving (incident response, prioritisation, shift planning, stakeholder management); 1 hour total

Final Interview: Mission & values alignment; 1 hour

We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.

What’s in it for you (Location dependant):

💰 Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
📈 Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve
📚 Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
🩺 Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

A quick, honest note before you apply.

Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.

If that sounds like the kind of problem you want to spend your time on, we’d really like to hear from you.

At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.