Software Engineer Manager, Linux Networking

Google; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 207,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Google is seeking a Software Engineering Manager to lead the Linux Kernel Networking team. You will define architecture, manage priorities, and oversee production support while guiding engineers across multiple sites.

The role emphasizes technical leadership and hands-on coding in C/C++ within a large-scale infrastructure context. As part of the AI and infrastructure ecosystem, you will mentor engineers, drive cross-team initiatives, and contribute to upstream kernel efforts to improve

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 3 years of experience with developing large-scale infrastructure, distributed systems or networks, or experience with compute technologies, storage or hardware architecture.
• 3 years of experience in a technical leadership role.
• 2 years of experience in a people management or team leadership role.
• Experience in systems programming using C or C++, with experience in Linux kernel internals and large-scale system architecture design.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a Manager for the Linux Kernel Networking team, collaborating with leadership to define long-term architectural strategy, establish team vision, and manage project priorities, deliverables, and production support.
• Design, develop, test, and enhance large-scale Linux kernel networking solutions and PCIe-related device drivers tailored for high-throughput, low-latency performance.
• Coach, mentor, and guide a distributed team of engineers, supporting their career development and fostering high engineering standards.
• Drive alignment across cross-organizational teams on goals, roadmaps, and dependencies to execute planet-scale infrastructure projects.
• Leverage emerging AI-assisted tools and best practices to accelerate software development workflows, testing, and deployment cycles.

Skills

Leadership experience

People management

C/C++ programming

Distributed systems

Kernel programming

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree or PhD

Tools

Linux kernel

PCIe device drivers

Kernel networking

Job description

In most instances, this position requires in-person interviews as part of the hiring process

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 3 years of experience with developing large-scale infrastructure, distributed systems or networks, or experience with compute technologies, storage or hardware architecture.
• 3 years of experience in a technical leadership role.
• 2 years of experience in a people management or team leadership role.
• Experience in systems programming using C or C++, with experience in Linux kernel internals and large-scale system architecture design.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field.
• 3 years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization.
• Experience with PCI Express (PCIe) interfaces, related device driver development, and advanced network protocols or kernel-level networking performance optimization.

About The Job

Like Google's own ambitions, the work of a Software Engineer goes beyond just Search. Software Engineering Managers have not only the technical expertise to take on and provide technical leadership to major projects, but also manage a team of Engineers. You not only optimize your own code but make sure Engineers are able to optimize theirs. As a Software Engineering Manager you manage your project goals, contribute to product strategy and help develop your team. Teams work all across the company, in areas such as information retrieval, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, distributed computing, large-scale system design, networking, security, data compression, user interface design; the list goes on and is growing every day. Operating with scale and speed, our exceptional software engineers are just getting started -- and as a manager, you guide the way.

With technical and leadership expertise, you manage engineers across multiple teams and locations, a large product budget and oversee the deployment of large-scale projects across multiple sites internationally.

The Linux Kernel Networking team within CoreOS builds and maintains the secure, high-performance stack powering Google's global infrastructure and Google Cloud. Managing all internet-facing traffic, production traffic, and massive AI/ML data pipelines, our work delivers planet-scale impact across millions of machines. We follow an upstream first philosophy and guide the community as a major contributor to Linux TCP/IP.

In this role, you will design, optimize, and maintain core kernel networking protocols for latency-sensitive and high-throughput workloads. In addition to technical execution, you will direct cross-organizational initiatives, mentor engineers, and contribute directly to the upstream kernel.

The AI and Infrastructure team is redefining what's possible. We empower Google customers with breakthrough capabilities and insights by delivering AI and Infrastructure at unparalleled scale, efficiency, reliability and velocity. Our customers include Googlers, Google Cloud customers, and billions of Google users worldwide.

We're the driving force behind Google's groundbreaking innovations, empowering the development of our cutting-edge AI models, delivering unparalleled computing power to global services, and providing the essential platforms that enable developers to build the future. From software to hardware our teams are shaping the future of world-leading hyperscale computing, with key teams working on the development of our TPUs, Vertex AI for Google Cloud, Google Global Networking, Data Center operations, systems research, and much more.

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

Responsibilities

Learn more about benefits at Google .

• Serve as a Manager for the Linux Kernel Networking team, collaborating with leadership to define long-term architectural strategy, establish team vision, and manage project priorities, deliverables, and production support.
• Design, develop, test, and enhance large-scale Linux kernel networking solutions and PCIe-related device drivers tailored for high-throughput, low-latency performance.
• Coach, mentor, and guide a distributed team of engineers, supporting their career development and fostering high engineering standards.
• Drive alignment across cross-organizational teams on goals, roadmaps, and dependencies to execute planet-scale infrastructure projects.
• Leverage emerging AI-assisted tools and best practices to accelerate software development workflows, testing, and deployment cycles.

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 .