Staff Software Engineer, Creativity Foundations, Photos Create

Google

Mountain View, California, United States · New York, New York, United StatesFull-time$207,000–$300,000Posted Oct 13, 2026

About the role

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
  • 8 years of experience in software development.
  • 5 years of experience testing, and launching software products.
  • 5 years of experience with full stack development, across back-end such as

Java, Python, Golang, or C++ codebases, and front-end experience including

JavaScript or TypeScript, HTML, CSS or equivalent.

  • 3 years of experience with software design and architecture.
  • Experience integrating generative AI tools or LLM interfaces into workflows.

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.

  • 3 years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization involving

cross-functional, or cross-business projects.

  • Prior experience in launching full-stack mobile product features to

consumers.

  • Enthusiasm for working on technological innovations and the capability to

grow amidst associated ambiguities and challenges.

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.

Google Photos Create team aims for bringing joy to you and those around you,

partnering to transform your moments into whatever you want, however you want,

whenever you want. The team focuses on bringing Google’s gen media technologies

to Google Photos while still giving users the controls to make the photo edits

and collages they want, with our goal to deliver a delightful experience for

Photos’ billion users to create assets that are easily snackable.

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:

  • Be an owner and build new creativity features, balancing innovative

explorations and usages of gen media technologies and scrappy prototyping in

a fast-moving space to find a good product-market fit for our new features.

  • Steer both short and long term technical investments in this space, and help

set the direction for the team.

  • Lead collaboration efforts across Photos to elevate our team and expand the

reach and capabilities of our tools.

  • Help the team grow full-stack to own features end-to-end.
  • Bring DevAI breakthroughs and best practices to elevate the broader

engineering team.

Responsibilities

  • Build new creativity features, exploring generative media technologies and prototyping to find product-market fit.
  • Guide short- and long-term technical investments and help set team direction.
  • Lead collaboration across Photos to expand the reach and capabilities of team tools.
  • Help the team build full-stack capabilities and own features end to end.
  • Share DevAI breakthroughs and best practices across the engineering team.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
  • At least 8 years of software development experience.
  • At least 5 years of experience testing and launching software products.
  • At least 5 years of full-stack development experience across back-end and front-end technologies.
  • At least 3 years of software design and architecture experience.
  • Experience integrating generative AI tools or LLM interfaces into workflows.
  • Preferred: Master's degree or PhD in a related technical field.
  • Preferred: Technical leadership experience setting direction and leading project teams.

Benefits

  • 20% target bonus
  • Equity
  • Benefits

Skills mentioned

Backend DevelopmentFrontend DevelopmentPythonJavaTypeScriptSystem DesignSoftware TestingGenerative AILarge Language ModelsMobile Development

About Google

A problem isn't truly solved until it's solved for all. Googlers build products that help create opportunities for everyone, whether down the street or across the globe. Bring your insight, imagination and a healthy disregard for the impossible. Bring everything that makes you unique. Together, we can build for everyone. Check out our career opportunities at goo.gle/3DLEokh

Software Development10,001+ employeesMountain View, CA

H-1B sponsorship history

Historical employer filing data was found for Google. The employer record includes 57,181 historical certified applications. This is employer-level history, not a guarantee that this role currently offers sponsorship.