Forward Deployed Engineer IV, Google Public Sector

Socket.dev; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 207,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Google Public Sector Forward Deployed Engineering (GPS FDE) invites a senior AI systems engineer to join a squad of innovator-builders delivering secure, production-grade AI solutions across Federal and state education environments.

You will code, debug, and co-build agentic workflows with customers, architect integration between Google AI products and live infrastructures, and design high-performance evaluation and observability pipelines to meet strict security and latency requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience with software development using Python or similar coding languages.
• Experience architecting AI systems on cloud platforms (e.g. Google Cloud Platform (GCP)).
• Experience building pipelines for structured and unstructured data using both vector databases and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-like architectures to power enterprise AI solutions.
• Experience leading technical discovery sessions with customers.
• Must possess an active Top Secret/SCI security clearance with current polygraph.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a developer for complex AI applications, transitioning from rapid prototypes to production-grade agentic workflows that drive ROI.
• Architect and code the connective tissue between Google’s AI products and customer's live infrastructure, including APIs, legacy data silos, and security perimeters.
• Build high-performance evaluation pipelines and observability frameworks to ensure agentic systems meet accuracy, safety, and latency requirements.
• Identify repeatable field patterns and friction points in Google’s AI stack, converting them into reusable modules or formal product feature requests for Engineering teams.
• Co-build with Customer Engineering teams to instill Google-grade development best practices, ensuring long-term project success and high end-user adoption.

Skills

Python

GCP

AI systems architecture

Data pipelines

Customer discovery

Security clearance TS/SCI

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS or related field

Master’s degree or PhD in AI/CS

Tools

Vertex AI Pipelines

Kubeflow

MLflow

Job description

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience with software development using Python or similar coding languages.
• Experience architecting AI systems on cloud platforms (e.g. Google Cloud Platform (GCP)).
• Experience building pipelines for structured and unstructured data using both vector databases and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-like architectures to power enterprise AI solutions.
• Experience leading technical discovery sessions with customers.
• Must possess an active Top Secret/SCI security clearance with current polygraph.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree or PhD in AI, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Experience implementing multi-agent systems using frameworks (e.g., LangGraph, CrewAI, ADK) and complex patterns (e.g., ReAct, self-reflection, hierarchical delegation).
• Proven experience architecting integrated systems, navigating real-time inference constraints, and implementing model quantization for resource-constrained environments.
• Proficiency in Vertex AI Pipelines, Kubeflow, or MLflow to implement CI/CD/CT automation and experimentation.
• Knowledge of Large Language Model (LLM) native metrics (e.g., tokens/sec, cost-per-request) and techniques for optimizing state management and granular tracing.
• Designing resilient data engineering pipelines using BigQuery and VertexAI for enterprise-scale analytics.

ABOUT THE JOB:

As a part of the Google Public Sector Forward Deployed Engineering (GPS FDE) team, you will join squad of "innovator-builders" who rapidly deploy production-grade, secure AI solutions across Federal and SLED environments. You will operate with a high-agency startup mindset, where engineers don’t just advise; they actively code, debug, and co-build bespoke agentic workflows directly alongside customers. You will resolve complex integration, data sovereignty, and security challenges within strict compliance frameworks. You will help the GPS FDE team accelerate the safe, reliable adoption of generative AI across mission-critical operations while feeding field insights directly back to Google Cloud Product engineering.Google Public Sector brings the magic of Google to the mission of government and education with solutions purpose-built for enterprises. We focus on helping United States public sector institutions accelerate their digital transformations, and we continue to make significant investments and grow our team to meet the complex needs of local, state and federal government and educational institutions.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:

• Serve as a developer for complex AI applications, transitioning from rapid prototypes to production-grade agentic workflows (e.g., multi-agent systems, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers) that drive measurable Return on Investment (ROI).
• Architect and code the connective tissue between Google’s AI products and customer's live infrastructure, including APIs, legacy data silos, and security perimeters as part of an expert team.
• Build high-performance evaluation pipelines and observability frameworks to ensure agentic systems meet rigorous requirements for accuracy, safety, and latency.
• Identify repeatable field patterns and friction points in Google’s AI stack, converting them into reusable modules or formal product feature requests for the Engineering teams.
• Co-build with Customer Engineering teams to instill Google-grade development best practices, ensuring long-term project success and high end-user adoption.