Staff Software Engineer

About the role

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

• 8 years of experience programming in C++.
• 5 years of experience building and developing large-scale infrastructure,

distributed systems or networks, or experience with compute technologies,

storage, or hardware architecture.

• Experience with CPU/memory architectures (e.g., x86, ARM) and modern server

hardware performance characteristics.

• Experience as an architect or technical lead for multi-year infrastructure

initiatives from conception to global deployment.

• Experience in one or more of the following domains: OS kernels,

hypervisors/virtualization stacks (e.g., KVM, Xen), networking drivers,

storage stacks.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related

technical field.

• 8 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
• 3 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams

and setting technical direction.

• Experience collaborating directly with principal engineers at strategic

enterprise client organizations to root-cause and resolve complex,

large-scale system performance bottlenecks.

• Understanding of hardware/software boundaries, including performance

profiling tools, microarchitectural optimization, and hardware acceleration

techniques.

• Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive technical alignment across distinct

organizational boundaries, including Product Management, Hardware

Engineering, and foundational Software teams.

ABOUT THE JOB:

Google's software engineers develop the next-generation technologies that change

how billions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one

another. Our products need to handle information at massive scale, and extend

well beyond web search. We're looking for engineers who bring fresh ideas from

all areas, including information retrieval, distributed computing, large-scale

system design, networking and data storage, security, artificial intelligence,

natural language processing, UI design and mobile; the list goes on and is

growing every day. As a software engineer, you will work on a specific project

critical to Google’s needs with opportunities to switch teams and projects as

you and our fast-paced business grow and evolve. We need our engineers to be

versatile, display leadership qualities and be enthusiastic to take on new

problems across the full-stack as we continue to push technology forward.

With your technical expertise you will manage project priorities, deadlines, and

deliverables. You will design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance

software solutions.

As a Staff Software Engineer on the Google Cloud Compute (GCE) Performance team,

you will provide technical leadership and drive the architectural direction for

Google Cloud’s foundational Virtual Machine (VM) offerings.

The AI and Infrastructure team is redefining what’s possible. We empower Google

customers with breakthrough capabilities and insights by delivering AI and

Infrastructure at unparalleled scale, efficiency, reliability and velocity. Our

customers include Googlers, Google Cloud customers, and billions of Google users

worldwide.

We're the driving force behind Google's groundbreaking innovations, empowering

the development of our cutting-edge AI models, delivering unparalleled computing

power to global services, and providing the essential platforms that enable

developers to build the future. From software to hardware our teams are shaping

the future of world-leading hyperscale computing, with key teams working on the

development of our TPUs, Vertex AI for Google Cloud, Google Global Networking,

Data Center operations, systems research, and much more.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills,

experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $207000 - $300000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google

[https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/benefits/].

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Partner with Product Management and cross-functional engineering teams to

define the roadmap for GCE’s next-generation VM offerings, translating

high-level business goals into concrete technical execution plans.

• Design, architect, and develop scalable technical solutions that optimize VM

performance, push the boundaries of hardware efficiency, and maximize

infrastructure utilization.

• Lead complex, multi-functional initiatives across hardware, kernel,

virtualization, and product teams to drive critical GCE performance

initiatives from conception to production.

• Act as a trusted technical advisor to GCE’s most critical, high-profile

customers. Analyze, benchmark, and optimize their massive-scale workloads to

ensure performance exceeds expectations and unlocks business value.

• Shape the technical culture of the broader organization by mentoring junior

and senior engineers, conducting design reviews, and establishing engineering

best practices for performance analysis.