Fleet Operations and Field Engineering Lead

The role 

The Fleet Operations & Field Engineering Lead is the senior on-site leader responsible for building, leading, and scaling Wayve’s on-road operations in Israel.
Based in Herzliya and reporting to the Head of Field Engineering, this role owns the full operational stack in-region, including fleet uptime, ADAS testing delivery, regulatory compliance, and overall operational performance.

This is a hands-on leadership role, combining deep technical expertise with operational ownership. You will act as the technical authority in-region, leading fault triage across vehicle hardware, software, sensors, and ADAS systems, while also operating as a Vehicle Safety Operator.

You will start with a lean operating model and build the foundations for scalable, safe, and high-performing operations. This includes establishing processes, driving performance against KPIs, and representing Wayve locally with regulators and stakeholders.

This is a unique opportunity to build operations from first principles in a new region while contributing to Wayve’s global 24/7 follow-the-sun fleet operations model.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead hands-on fault triage and resolution across vehicle hardware, software, sensors, and compute systems.
• Act as a certified Vehicle Safety Operator, delivering structured on-road ADAS testing.
• Deliver high-quality testing outputs, including accurate reporting, QA, and auditability.
• Ensure fleet uptime, readiness, and utilisation targets are consistently met.
• Drive operational performance through structured planning, execution, and KPI tracking.
• Establish and enforce safe, repeatable processes for triage, repair, testing, and compliance.
• Maintain a 5-minute SLA response model for vehicle issues, both locally and globally.
• Build, manage, and develop a small high-performing team.
• Recruit, onboard, and scale the Israel Fleet Operations team as needed.
• Act as the local operational and regulatory representative for Wayve in Israel.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams including Reliability Engineering, SRE, Safety, Legal, and global Fleet Ops.
• Contribute to global handovers to enable 24/7 fleet coverage.
• Embed and uphold a strong safety-first culture across all operations.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, legal, and safety requirements without compromising development velocity.
• Manage site setup, infrastructure readiness, and operational compliance.
• Represent Wayve in external engagements, including regulators, partners, and executive demos.
• Provide structured updates, risk visibility, and insights to senior leadership.
• Participate in an on-call rotation to support rapid fleet response.

About you 

You are a highly capable operator-leader who thrives in complex, safety-critical environments. You combine strong technical problem-solving with the ability to build and scale operations from the ground up. You are comfortable being both hands-on and strategic, able to diagnose vehicle issues one moment and make high-level operational decisions the next. 

You bring structure to ambiguity, operate effectively under pressure, and understand how to balance speed, safety, compliance, and performance. 

You are a strong communicator and stakeholder manager, able to represent Wayve both internally and externally while building trust across teams and partners.

Essential: 

• Strong hands-on experience in automotive, mobility, robotics, aviation, defence, or other safety-critical environments.
• Experience diagnosing and resolving vehicle hardware and software issues.
• Experience with ADAS or autonomous vehicle testing.
• Proven experience leading small teams while remaining technically hands-on.
• Experience operating in regulated environments.
• Ability to build structured processes and deliver against strict SLAs.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on execution with strategic leadership.
• Experience launching or scaling new operational sites.
• Fluent in Hebrew and English.
• Hold a full Israeli Driving Licence.

Desirable: 

• Fleet importation, homologation, or regulatory liaison experience.
• Experience with vehicle systems integration, diagnostics, or networked vehicle platforms.
• EV charging infrastructure or site setup experience.
• Experience in ADAS/AV development or testing environments.
• Experience operating in zero-shot or generalisation testing contexts.
• Professional manager qualification.

Additional Requirements:  

• Onsite in Herzliya, Israel - Sunday to Thursday.
• Participation in an on-call rotation is required.
• Occasional international travel may be required to support other sites or share best practice.
• Training and onboarding will take place in London.
• All applicants must disclose any secondary employment during the application process.
• Employment is subject to Pre-employment checks. 
• Health assessments (pre and/or post employment), ongoing drug and alcohol testing in line with company policy and Successful completion of training.

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