Software Engineering Manager, XR Graphics

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

Job summary

Google's XR Graphics team seeks a Software Engineering Manager for AR/VR graphics across Android XR platform. Lead end-to-end graphics stack and mentor engineers across multiple teams and sites.

You will steer roadmaps, collaborate with hardware teams, and balance performance, power, and scalability while shaping developer tooling and best practices.

The role involves managing large budgets and contributing to product strategy in a dynamic, global environment.

Qualifications

• Eight years of software development experience.
• Three years in graphics development, performance, or tools.
• Three years in technical leadership.
• Two years in people management or team leadership.

Responsibilities

• Guide architectural strategy across low-level graphics drivers and real-time rendering pipelines.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define roadmaps, milestones, and launch blockers.
• Mentor an engineering team building core graphics runtime systems and developer tooling for AR/VR devices.
• Balance real-time rendering fidelity with device power and thermal budgets.
• Advocate modern workflows and AI-assisted development to increase velocity across global sites.

Skills

Software development

Graphics development

Technical leadership

People management

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Master's degree or PhD in CS or related field

Tools

Vulkan

DirectX 12

Metal

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 graphics development, graphics performance, or graphics tools.
• 3 years of experience in a technical leadership role.
• 2 years of experience in a people management or team leadership role.

Preferred qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science or related technical field.
• Experience architecting and deploying graphics rendering stacks, display pipelines, or developer tools for augmented reality or virtual reality platforms.
• Experience with AR or VR.
• Experience programming with modern graphics APIs such as Vulkan, DirectX 12, or Metal.
• Experience building flexible and scalable teams and roadmaps.
• Familiarity working with any of the following: Compiler development, Android development, Unix/Linux environments, distributed and parallel systems, or developing large software systems.

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 mission of XR Graphics is to build the graphics tools and rendering pipeline for the Android XR platform. We have expertise in various components of the graphics stack, from low-level graphics and system bringup to developer-facing APIs. We collaborate with application developers and hardware providers to optimize graphics stack. We also develop graphics best practices for XR and other rendering environments.

The Software Engineering Manager for XR Graphics, leading a team of experts that enable the end-to-end graphics stack for AR/VR devices.

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

Responsibilities

Learn more about benefits at Google .

• Guide architectural strategy across low-level graphics drivers, modern Vulkan APIs, and real-time 3D rendering pipelines to maximize GPU utilization.
• Partner with cross-functional hardware, research, and platform product teams to define roadmaps, establish milestones, and resolve launch blockers.
• Manage and mentor an engineering team of software engineers building core graphics runtime systems and developer tooling for Android XR devices.
• Drive engineering best practices to balance real-time rendering visual fidelity against strict device power, compute, and thermal operating budgets.
• Advocate modern engineering workflows and AI-assisted development tools to increase velocity and execution consistency across global engineering sites.

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 .