Senior Staff Engineer, YouTube Shorts Ranking, Core Modeling

Google; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 262,000 - 365,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Google's Senior Staff Engineer for YouTube Shorts Ranking in Mountain View leads model development and optimization of the shorts feed, collaborating across ML, data, and product teams to deliver high-quality recommendations.

The role emphasizes ownership of outcomes, architecture design, and cross‑functional leadership to scale solutions for billions of user interactions in a fast-paced, innovative environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 7 years of experience leading technical project strategy, ML design, and working with industry-scale ML infrastructure (e.g., model deployment, model evaluation, data processing, debugging, fine tuning).
• 5 years of experience with design and architecture; and testing/launching software products.
• 5 years of experience building and deploying recommendation systems models (retrieval, prediction, ranking, embedding) in production.
• Experience building architecture in different modeling domains.

Responsibilities

• Bring ideas to optimize shorts feed for better user experiences, new use cases, and overall product quality.
• Build large-scale machine learning models, training infrastructure and quality evaluation, design ML architecture.
• Work with data scientists, product managers, front-end engineers, user experience designers to improve product quality.

Skills

ML design

Recommendation systems

Distributed systems

Leadership

Project strategy

Software development

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master’s degree or PhD

Job description

Senior Staff Engineer, YouTube Shorts Ranking, Core Modeling

Advanced

Experience owning outcomes and decision making, solving ambiguous problems and influencing stakeholders; deep expertise in domain.

Location: Mountain View, CA, USA

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 7 years of experience leading technical project strategy, ML design, and working with industry-scale ML infrastructure (e.g., model deployment, model evaluation, data processing, debugging, fine tuning).
• 5 years of experience with design and architecture; and testing/launching software products.
• 5 years of experience building and deploying recommendation systems models (retrieval, prediction, ranking, embedding) in production.
• Experience building architecture in different modeling domains.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computer Engineering, or a related highly technical field.
• 8 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
• 5 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams and setting technical direction.
• 3 years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization involving cross-functional, or cross-business projects.

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.

YouTube Shorts is the short-form section of the video-sharing website YouTube, hosting content much like YouTube's primary service but with a focus on vertical videos at a maximum length of 60 seconds. For creators, it enables a space for content that is short, casual, and direct. Creators can try workshopping new material, share other videos on the platform, or provide a quick taste of their personality to prospective fans. For viewers, it provides high value in short intervals. Fans can easily access fresh, snackable content from their favorite creators, and discover new channels.

We are building an entirely new experience for both creating videos and consuming them, for allowing creators to connect better with their viewers communities, from within the YouTube app.

At YouTube, we believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we 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.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $262,000-$365,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Bring ideas to optimize shorts feed for better user experiences, new use cases, and overall product quality.
• Build large-scale machine learning models, training infrastructure and quality evaluation, design ML architecture.
• Work with data scientists, product managers, front-end engineers, user experience designers to improve product quality.

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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.

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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.