Senior Software Engineer, Thermal Management, Pixel

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

Job summary

Google is seeking software engineers for the Pixel Device Thermal Software Team to design, build, and optimize the low‑level thermal software across the Pixel family. You’ll operate at the intersection of silicon capability, hardware engineering, and everyday user experience to maximize sustained performance and battery efficiency.

Responsibilities include writing, testing, and optimizing code across embedded firmware, Linux kernel thermal frameworks, and the Android HAL; leading design reviews

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS, CE, EE, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of software development experience in one or more languages, including C/C++.
• 3 years testing, maintaining, or launching software products; 1 year in design/architecture.
• 3 years with embedded operating systems (e.g., Linux kernel, RTOS).
• 2 years scripting for test automation, telemetry parsing, or test harness development (Python, Shell).

Responsibilities

• Write, optimize, and test product or system development code across embedded firmware, Linux kernel thermal frameworks, and the Android HAL.
• Participate in, or lead design reviews with peers and cross-functional stakeholders to decide on technologies and thermal mitigation.
• Review code and provide feedback to ensure best practices and performance.
• Contribute to technical documentation and bring-up guides for new silicon platforms and validation feedback.
• Triage product or system issues and debug/track/resolve impact on hardware, thermal behavior, and system performance.

Skills

5 years software development

C/C++

test automation

embedded systems

scripting (Python/Shell)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/EE or equivalent

Tools

Linux kernel

Job description

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of experience with software development in one or more programming languages, including C or C++.
• 3 years of experience testing, maintaining, or launching software products, and 1 year of experience with software design and architecture.
• 3 years of experience working with embedded operating systems (e.g., Linux kernel, RTOS).
• 2 years of experience using scripting languages (e.g., Python, Shell) for test automation, telemetry parsing, or test harness development.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5 years of experience with data structures, algorithms, and system-level performance or power optimization.
• 1 year of experience in a technical leadership role leading engineering workstreams or driving cross-functional technical initiatives.
• Experience with Linux kernel thermal frameworks (e.g., thermal zones, cooling devices, governors), Android HAL (AIDL/HIDL), or low-level profiling tools (e.g., ftrace, perf).
• Experience developing accessible technologies or building consumer hardware devices designed for user needs.
  

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 Pixel Device Thermal Software Team is responsible for designing, building, and optimizing the low-level thermal software architecture and runtime policies across the Pixel product family.

Our team operates at the critical intersection of silicon capability, hardware engineering, and everyday user experience. From sustained high-resolution video capture to compute-heavy mobile gaming. In this role, you will create intelligent software solutions that keep device surfaces comfortable to hold and internal silicon safely within operating limits—all while maximizing sustained performance and battery efficiency.

Android is Google’s mobile operating system powering more than 3 billion devices worldwide. Android is about bringing computing to everyone in the world. We believe computing is a super power for good, enabling access to information, economic opportunity, productivity, connectivity between friends and family and more. We think everyone in the world should have access to the best computing has to offer. We provide the platform for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and developers to build compelling computing devices (smartphones, tablets, TVs, wearables, etc) that run the best apps/services for everyone in the world.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

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities:

• Write, optimize, and test product or system development code across embedded firmware, Linux kernel thermal frameworks, and the Android HAL.
• Participate in, or lead design reviews with peers and cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., hardware thermal, silicon architecture, system QA) to decide amongst available technologies and thermal mitigation strategies.
• Review code developed by other developers and provide feedback to ensure best practices (e.g., style guidelines, checking code in, accuracy, testability, low-latency performance, and efficiency).
• Contribute to existing technical documentation, bring-up guides, or educational content and adapt content based on product/program updates, new silicon platforms, and validation feedback.
• Triage product or system issues and debug/track/resolve by analyzing the sources of issues and the impact on hardware, thermal behavior, system performance, and overall product quality.