Staff Software Engineer, Data Center and AI Infrastructure

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

Job summary

Google seeks a software engineer to design and operate switch software powering its data centers and AI infrastructure. You will help build scalable, high-performance networks and collaborate across teams.

You will lead projects, mentor engineers, and contribute to TPUs, GPUs, and Google Cloud networking initiatives, with interviews typically conducted in person. The role requires extensive C++ experience and distributed systems expertise.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of C++ programming experience.
• 5 years building large-scale infrastructure or distributed systems.
• 5 years of experience launching software products.
• Experience in problem management and network design.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership on projects.
• Coach a distributed team of engineers.
• Scale and performance tuning of a large-scale network.
• Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain and improve switch software.
• Work on projects enabling AI networking infrastructure for TPUs and GPUs.

Skills

C++ programming

Large-scale systems

Network design

Problem solving

Infrastructure development

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

Linux

SDN

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 programming in C++.
• 5 years of experience testing, and launching software products.
• 5 years of experience building and developing large-scale infrastructure, distributed systems or networks, or experience with compute technologies, storage, or hardware architecture.
• Experience in problem management, problem-solving, network architecture, and network design.

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.
• Knowledge of Linux user space development and multi-threading development.
• Knowledge of networking protocol, embedded software development and Software Defined Networking (SDN).

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. Our team's mission is to deliver high‑performance, resilient switch software powering Google's data center and AI infrastructure. Our team is responsible for developing and maintaining the switch operation system deployed in every Google data center. You will be directly contributing in supporting the growth of Gemini and Google cloud business. You will also be engaging in the technology in hardware (switching ASIC and optics) and software to shape the future of the global network. In this role, you will be building software for switches that power the world's largest AI infrastructure, from data center fabrics, to wide area networks, to the peering edge of our infrastructure. 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 .

• Provide technical leadership on projects.
• Influence and coach a distributed team of engineers.
• Scale and performance tuning of a large-scale network.
• Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain and improve switch software.
• Work on projects enabling AI networking infrastructure, enabling high performing fabrics for Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).

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 .