Senior Software Engineer, Device Architecture, Google Home

Google Inc.; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 174,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Bonus target

Benefits

Job summary

Google Home's System Architecture team defines foundations across first-party and partner devices, balancing silicon capabilities, embedded OS layers, and real-time pipelines. You will lead architecture pathfinding, prototype with silicon vendors, optimize DRAM/CPU usage, and drive cross-functional collaboration for end-to-end latency and on-device ML execution.

This role involves shaping hardware-software platform strategy and working across product teams to deliver scalable, high-performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of experience in embedded systems, OS internals, or system architecture.
• 5 years of experience in embedded systems, OS internals, SoC architecture, Linux or RTOS subsystems, device drivers, board bring-up, and low-level system services.
• 5 years of experience in C/C++.
• Experience driving technical requirements, evaluations, and prototyping with silicon and third-party software vendors.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture pathfinding, exploratory investigations, and proof-of-concept (PoC) software implementations to evaluate features and silicon architectures.
• Drive technical engagements and prototyping sprints with external SoC vendors and business partners, evaluating vendor reference software and steering roadmap alignments.
• Profile, diagnose, and optimize system-level resource utilization—specifically targeting DRAM/Flash footprint reduction, CPU load optimization, and end-to-end latency.
• Optimize embedded pipelines for real-time audio/video processing and on-device ML execution, identifying execution bottlenecks across CPU/GPU/NPU subsystems.
• Formulate architectural blueprints and trade-off analyses to influence internal cross-functional teams (hardware, platform software, Product Management) and external vendor engineering teams.

Skills

Embedded systems

C/C++

OS internals

System architecture

Vendor prototyping

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE/EE

Tools

Perfetto

ftrace

Job description

Senior Software Engineer, Device Architecture, Google Home

corporate_fare Google place Mountain View, CA, USA

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of experience in embedded systems, OS internals, or system architecture.
• 5 years of experience in embedded systems, OS internals, SoC architecture, Linux or RTOS subsystems, device drivers, board bring-up, and low-level system services.
• 5 years of experience in C/C++.
• Experience driving technical requirements, evaluations, and prototyping with silicon and third-party software vendors.

Preferred qualifications:

Master’s Degree or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.

• 5 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
• Design experience with consumer hardware SoC architectures (MCU/CPU/DSP/NPU coordination).
• Proficiency in system profiling and tracing tools (e.g., Perfetto, ftrace) to analyze and resolve complex performance bottlenecks.

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.

The System Architecture team within Google Home defines and validates the foundational software architecture across first-party (1P) and partner smart home devices. We manage hard constraints at the boundary of silicon capabilities, embedded operating system (OS) layers, and real-time processing pipelines.

The Google Home team focuses on hardware, software and services offerings for the home, ranging from thermostats to smart displays. The Home team researches, designs, and develops new technologies and hardware to make users’ homes more helpful. Our mission is the helpful home: to create a home that cares for the people inside it and the world around it. Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $174000 - $252000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

• Lead architecture pathfinding, exploratory investigations, and proof-of-concept (PoC) software implementations to evaluate features and silicon architectures.
• Drive technical engagements and prototyping sprints with external SoC vendors and business partners, evaluating vendor reference software and steering roadmap alignments.
• Profile, diagnose, and optimize system-level resource utilization—specifically targeting DRAM/Flash footprint reduction, CPU load optimization, and end-to-end latency.
• Optimize embedded pipelines for real-time audio/video processing and on-device ML execution, identifying execution bottlenecks across CPU/GPU/NPU subsystems.
• Formulate architectural blueprints and trade-off analyses to influence internal cross-functional teams (hardware, platform software, Product Management) and external vendor engineering teams.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the users we serve, creating a culture of belonging, and providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), expecting or parents-to- be, criminal histories consistent with legal requirements, or any other basis protected by law. See also Google's EEO Policy , Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal , Belonging at Google , and How we hire .

Google is a global company and, in order to facilitate efficient collaboration and communication globally, English proficiency is a requirement for all roles unless stated otherwise in the job posting.