Senior Staff Software Engineer, AI/ML, Security

Google; Kirkland (WA); On-site; USD 262,000 - 365,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision, life insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation

Sick time

Maternity leave

Baby Bonding Leave

Paid holidays

Job summary

Google Cloud seeks a senior software engineer to advance model armor and data protection for enterprise environments. You will steer architectural strategy, build scalable security systems, and mentor teams across Google Cloud and DeepMind.

The role emphasizes ML security, cloud experience, and leadership in complex, cross-functional projects with global impact. Competitive compensation and equity offered.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 5 years of experience with design and architecture; testing/launching software products.
• 5 years of experience in Cloud.
• 5 years of experience with one or more ML fields mentioned in qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term technical goal and architectural strategy for model armor and sensitive data protection.
• Lead the design and implementation of scalable, low-latency systems to detect and mitigate threats such as prompt injection and data leakage.
• Align security roadmaps across Google Cloud, DeepMind, and other product areas; navigate constraints like latency and cost.
• Resolve technical disagreements among engineers and researchers; deliver cross-functional objectives across time zones.
• Mentor staff and executive engineers; evaluate ML security research to elevate domain expertise.

Skills

Speech/Audio ML

Reinforcement Learning

ML Infrastructure

Design & Architecture

Cloud experience

Security & ML safety

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience

Master's degree or PhD preferred

Job description

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year

Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Kirkland, WA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA; Sunnyvale, 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 one or more of the following: Speech/audio (e.g., technology duplicating and responding to the human voice), reinforcement learning (e.g., sequential decision making), ML infrastructure, or specialization in another ML field.
• 5 years of experience with design and architecture; and testing/launching software products.
• 5 years of experience in Cloud.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related 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.
• 5 years of programming experience in Java.
• Experience with AI model security, adversarial machine learning, or data privacy (e.g., prompt injection defenses, LLM introspection).
• Experience delivering enterprise-grade security products that achieve measurable, high-impact business and customer outcomes.

About The Job

Google Cloud's software engineers develop the next-generation technologies that change how billions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one another. 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 Cloud's needs with opportunities to switch teams and projects as you and our fast-paced business grow and evolve. You will anticipate our customer needs and be empowered to act like an owner, take action and innovate. 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.

US: $262000 - $365000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term technical goal and architectural strategy for model armor and sensitive data protection, ensuring Google Cloud remains a leader in generative AI security.
• Lead the design and implementation of highly scalable, low-latency systems to detect and mitigate emerging threats such as prompt injection, jailbreaking, and sensitive data leakage across enterprise environments.
• Act as a principal technical influencer to align security roadmaps across Google Cloud, DeepMind, and other product areas, navigating constraints like latency, cost, and global compliance.
• Resolve technical disagreements among execute engineers and researchers, forging consensus to deliver on high-stakes, cross-functional objectives across multiple time zones.
• Partner with executive leadership to evaluate Machine Learning (ML) security research and provide technical mentorship to staff and executive engineers, elevating the organization’s overall domain expertise.

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.