Principal Engineer, YouTube, Visits Quality

Google; San Bruno (CA); Hybrid; USD 307,000 - 427,000; Full time

Job summary

Google is seeking a senior AI/ML tech-lead to enhance YouTube Shorts discovery and user satisfaction. You will drive large-scale recommendation models, design architectures, and optimize ML infrastructure.

You'll collaborate with product, data science, and research teams to align business goals with scalable technical solutions and mentor junior engineers to uplift the team’s technical capabilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience in engineering.
• 8 years of industry experience working on AI/ML recommendations.
• Experience with cross-functional technical innovation.

Responsibilities

• Define technical strategy for enhancing YouTube Shorts discovery models to accelerate growth and satisfaction.
• Provide technical leadership on large-scale recommendation models and ML infrastructure.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to translate business goals into scalable technical solutions.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers to raise team capabilities.

Skills

Engineering experience

AI/ML recommendations

Cross-functional innovation

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS or equivalent

Master's or PhD in Engineering/CS or related field

Job description

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience in engineering.
• 8 years of industry experience working on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) recommendations.
• Experience with cross-functional technical innovation.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience in engineering.
• 8 years of industry experience working on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) recommendations.
• Experience with cross-functional technical innovation.

Preferred qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 15 years of industry experience in the recommendations technology domain.
• Experience with relevant domains such as optimizing user satisfaction and designing multi-task learning models for downstream tasks.

About The Job

YouTube Shorts’ mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world through short-form videos.

For viewers, we aim to provide a high quality, entertaining, and engaging experience. As the "growth engine" of the product, our team is responsible for the AI/ML systems that power Shorts recommendations across the Infinite Playback, Home, WatchNext, Notifications, etc.

In this role, you will tech-lead a team of AI/ML software engineers to grow the YouTube Shorts ecosystem by recommending Shorts that are aligned with users’ dynamically changing interests. This role is focused on growing user retention and engaged visits via optimizing the feed and satisfaction of users on Shorts platform. This role involves defining technical strategies and designing large-scale recommendation systems that ensure every visit provides high-value content to the viewer.

At YouTube, we believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share, and build community through our stories. We work together to give everyone the power to share their story, explore what they love, and connect with one another in the process. Working at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and boundless creativity, we move at the speed of culture with a shared goal to show people the world. We explore new ideas, solve real problems, and have fun — and we do it all together.

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

Responsibilities

Learn more about benefits at Google .

• Define technical strategy for enhancing YouTube Shorts discovery models and systems to accelerate viewer and creator growth while improving user satisfaction.
• Provide technical leadership on high-impact projects; design, develop, test, and deploy large-scale recommendation models, novel model architectures, and optimize ML infrastructure to drive the growth of the Shorts ecosystem.
• Partner with engineering, product, data-science, and research teams to convert business goals into scalable technical solutions that grow the Shorts ecosystem.
• Facilitate alignment and clarity across teams on goals, prioritization, outcomes, and timelines. Mentor and influence to uplevel junior engineers on the team.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form .