Zoox
Foster City, CA · founded 2014
Zoox is Amazon's ground-up robotaxi company — not a retrofit, a purpose-built driverless vehicle with no steering wheel — headquartered in Foster City, CA and running as an independent Amazon subsidiary since 2020. Culturally it sells itself on 'one crew, one mission,' a strong safety-and-mission ethos, genuinely hard robotics/ML problems, and famously good free food. The honest catch from people inside: the compensation structure leans on Amazon RSUs plus Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights that reviewers say evaluate poorly, comp hits a cliff, and middle management is hit-or-miss. Great if you're on autonomy/vehicle/safety; more frustrating in other functions.
see the full file on Zooxdocumented benefits (16)
| Fertility support | yes |
|---|---|
| Countries with offices | United States |
| Equity | RSU |
| Mental health | yes |
| Dental | yes |
| Vision | yes |
| Disability | yes |
| Life insurance | yes |
| Office policy | Roles are listed by work type; many are hybrid, based out of the Foster City, CA headquarters. |
| Unlimited PTO | yes |
| Offices | Foster City, CA, Seattle, WA, Las Vegas, NV |
| Food | offered |
| On-site cafeteria | yes |
| Median filed wage | $187,803 |
| Funding stage | Subsidiary |
| Publicly traded | offered |
what Zoox pays
Median of 50 certified wages filed with the US Department of Labor: $187,803.
Half of Zoox's certified filings fall between $164,000 and $206,000.
| role | median | filings | range |
|---|---|---|---|
| software engineer | $188,000 | 7 filings | $149,240 to $214,000 |
| senior software engineer | $226,138 | 6 filings | $213,512 to $230,000 |
| staff technical program manager | $220,500 | 2 filings | $206,000 to $220,500 |
| senior technical program manager | $197,000 | 2 filings | $155,750 to $197,000 |
| manager, technical program management | $228,000 | 2 filings | $200,907 to $228,000 |
Source: US Department of Labor, FY2025 Q4. Read 2026-07-27.
notable perks
- A famous on-site food program with a daily-changing menu of local and sustainable dishes
- A busy events calendar with holiday events and more sports teams than you can count
- "Playing with robots" — hands-on time with the purpose-built robotaxi is part of the job
- Path Forward returnships for people re-entering the workforce after a career break
the legal floor where they are
Set by law, not by Zoox. It applies to every employer in CA.
| IVF cycles the state covers | California requires IVF from 1 January 2026, and only from large employers. SB 729 (2024) rewrote Health and Safety Code § 1374.55 so that a large group health care service plan contract 'issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, shall provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility services, including a maximum of three completed oocyte retrievals with unlimited embryo transfers', following ASRM guidelines and using single embryo transfer where medically appropriate. Large group means 100 or more employees. Small group plans need only be OFFERED the coverage rather than provide it, religious employers are excluded, Medi-Cal managed care is exempt, and CalPERS plans are delayed to 1 July 2027. The original 1 July 2025 date was pushed back a budget trailer bill, AB 116 (2025). THE LIMIT THAT DECIDES WHETHER THIS REACHES YOU: a state insurance mandate binds only fully insured plans. A self-funded employer plan is governed federally under ERISA and is preempted, and KFF's 2025 employer survey puts 67% of covered workers — 80% at firms of 200 or more — in a self-funded plan. At most large California employers this law therefore does not apply, and the fertility benefit on the page is the company's own choice. (Senate Bill 729 (2024), which repealed and added Section 1374.55 of the Health and Safety Code and amended Section 10119.6 of the Insurance Code; the operative date was moved from 1 July 2025 to 1 January 2026 by Assembly Bill 116 (2025).) |
|---|---|
| Adoption leave the law gives | 12 workweeks of UNPAID job-protected leave in any 12-month period on the placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and only for employees who meet the FMLA eligibility test. There is no federal paid adoption leave. (Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(B) and 2612(c); eligibility at 29 U.S.C. 2611(2) and (4). Quoted from the 2023 edition of the US Code.) |
| Pay when you are ill | No federal law requires any paid sick leave. The FLSA does not require payment for time not worked, and the FMLA gives 12 workweeks of UNPAID job-protected leave in any 12-month period for a serious health condition, and only for employees who meet the FMLA eligibility test. Any paid sick time comes from a state or city law, or from the employer's own choice. (Fair Labor Standards Act, per the Department of Labor's statement on payment for time not worked; Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(D) and 2612(c). Quoted from the 2023 edition of the US Code on govinfo.gov.) |
Every claim above is sourced and dated. See sources on the full page.
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