Senior System Performance Engineer, XR

Socket.dev; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 207,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Google is seeking a skilled XR System Performance Engineer to optimize the AR Glasses OS stack, focusing on end-to-end performance under strict latency and power constraints. You will analyze workloads from API calls to microXR architecture and drive architecture decisions.

You will mentor peers, write impactful code, and help shape the system's performance benchmarks and profiling methodologies for a next‑gen wearable platform powered by AI.

Qualifications

• 8 years of software development experience in C++ or Java.
• 5 years testing and launching software products.
• 5 years of performance, large-scale systems analysis, or debugging.
• 3 years of software design and architecture.
• 8 years of data structures and algorithms.
• Experience in technical leadership and cross-functional projects.
• Familiarity with system performance benchmarks and profiling tools.

Responsibilities

• Architect and vet system designs with a focus on end-to-end performance optimizations.
• Analyze performance of workloads from high-level APIs to low-level architecture.
• Communicate decisions via architecture documents and code.
• Mentor team members on architecture, coding standards, and debugging complex interactions.
• Review code and contribute to productivity through workflow improvements.

Skills

C++/Java

Testing & launching software

Performance analysis

Software design & architecture

Data structures & algorithms

Technical leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Performance profiling tools

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Master’s degree in Engineering/CS

Job description

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development programming in C++ or Java.
• 5 years of experience testing, and launching software products.
• 5 years of experience with performance, large-scale systems data analysis, visualization tools, or debugging.
• 3 years of experience with software design and architecture.

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.
• 3 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.
• Experience with system performance benchmarks, methodologies, and profiling/analysis using industry-standard tools (e.g., Perfetto, GDB, ftrace).

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.

With your technical expertise you will manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables. You will design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance software solutions.

XR System Performance Engineer, you will play a critical role in ensuring the performance excellence of XR hardware and software. You will design strategies to identify bottlenecks and implement optimizations that maintain system stability, responsiveness, and efficiency under tight latency, power, and thermal constraints.

You will bring interest and experience in optimizing microXR glasses OS and Glasses Core software stack for the audio and display smart glasses product family. Your interests will span the entire operating systems stack: boot loaders, kernels, IPC mechanisms, graphics, window composition, cameras and sensors, application frameworks, etc.

For decades, the computing revolution has reshaped our world driven by
breakthroughs in compute, connectivity, mobile, and now, AI. Google's XR
team is at the forefront of the next major leap – the convergence of AI and
XR. This is more than just new devices – it's about reimagining how we
interact with the world around us. We're building a future where
lightweight XR devices like smart glasses and headsets pair with helpful AI
to augment human intelligence, offering personalized, conversational, and
contextually aware experiences.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $207000 - $300000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities:

• Architect, guide, and vet systems designs within the scope of the AR Glasses OS team (with a focus on end-to-end performance optimizations), and write product or system development code to solve ambiguous problems.
• Analyze in-depth performance of workloads ranging from high-level application APIs to low-level microXR architecture details.
• Communicate, design, and implement decisions effectively through architecture/design documents and code.
• Mentor and train other team members on architecture and design techniques, coding standards, debugging complex system interactions, and engineering best practices and processes.
• Review code developed by other developers, provide feedback to ensure best practices, and contribute to the overall efficiency and productivity of the engineering team through code, process enhancements, and software development workflow improvements.