Principal Engineer, Service Networking AI

Socket.dev; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 307,000 - 427,000; Full time

Job summary

Google Cloud is seeking a Principal Engineer for Service Networking AI to architect and land the evolution of Google's service networking stack for AI workloads. You will collaborate with product and customers to define requirements and shape an ecosystem across load balancers, Kubernetes, DNS, and CDN technologies.

You will lead engineers, mentor future technical leaders, and drive an ambitious, high-impact roadmap to deliver performance, low latency, and cost efficiency at planet scale.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of software engineering experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems.
• 5 years delivering networking solutions at hyperscale.
• 2 years serving ML, AI, or agentic workloads.

Responsibilities

• Leverage networking and cloud computing expertise for AI/agentic workloads.
• Define and drive multi-year architectural strategy for service networking.
• Partner with product management and customers to capture AI requirements.
• Lead software engineers and ensure timely, high-quality contributions.
• Mentor and sponsor the next generation of technical leaders.

Skills

Large-scale distributed systems

Networking solutions

AI/agentic workloads

Leadership & mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

DNS

Load balancing

Job description

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of software engineering experience, building and working with large-scale distributed systems.
• 5 years of experience delivering networking solutions at hyperscale.
• 2 years of experience serving ML, AI, or agentic workloads.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Experience working with AI infrastructure and modeling teams to deliver state of the art networking solutions.
• Experience with Kubernetes as a platform for large model training or serving.
• Strategic leadership with experience driving multi-year architectural transitions and technical alignment across large organizations.
• Recognized industry-wide expertise in Layer 7 protocols, edge networking, traffic management algorithms, and high-capacity secure proxy architectures.
• Credibility as an engineering leader who develops a structure of other technical leads in the domain.

About the job:

Cloud Networking’s vision is to deliver planet-scale networking for a smart and connected world. Our mission is to seamlessly connect and serve any application, any user, anywhere. Our products include interconnect, security, load balancing, DNS, GKE networking, and so much more.

As Principal Engineer for Service Networking AI, you will serve as the technical leader responsible for designing, driving, and landing the architectural evolution of Google’s service networking stack to best serve novel AI and agentic workloads. You will partner with technical and product leaders within and beyond Cloud Networking to understand the AI and agentic requirements of our customers and redefine what is “best in class” across an ecosystem that includes load balancers, Kubernetes, DNS, Google’s Content Delivery Network, and more. Success will not just enable these new workloads but differentiate Google’s offerings to provide excellent performance, low latency, and improved total cost of ownership.

Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $307000 - $427000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities:

• Leverage your networking and cloud computing expertise to best serve AI and agentic workloads.
• Define, drive, and land a multi-year technical outlook and architectural strategy that brings individual networking components together into an overall ecosystem differentiated for AI and agentic serving.
• Partner with product management and directly with customers to understand customer AI and agentic requirements.
• Lead software engineers within the service networking organization, ensuring their contributions toward your outlook land on time and with high quality.
• Act as a premier technical mentor and sponsor, growing the next generation of technical leaders across Google Cloud.