Staff Software Engineer, Knowledge Catalog Search and Discovery

Google Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 207,000 - 301,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off 20 days per year

Sick time 40 hours/year (Seattle 69)

Job summary

Google Inc. in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Knowledge Catalog Search and Discovery to own end-to-end ML lifecycle for search relevance, develop advanced information retrieval techniques, and improve core search metrics.

You will collaborate with catalog engineers to integrate models into high-throughput pipelines, ensuring sub-100ms response times. Responsibilities include designing scalable software, leading high-impact projects, and guiding distributed teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 5 years of experience testing and launching software products, and 3 years of experience with software design and architecture.
• 5 years of experience with one or more ML areas: Speech/audio, reinforcement learning, ML infrastructure, or related ML field.
• 5 years of experience with ML design and ML infrastructure (model deployment, evaluation, data processing, debugging, fine tuning).
• Experience with modern ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, or JAX).

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance large-scale software solutions.
• Provide technical leadership on high-impact projects and manage priorities.
• Influence and coach a distributed team of engineers.
• Lead design and implementation of ML solutions, optimize ML infrastructure, and guide data processing strategies.

Skills

Software development

Software testing

ML design

ML infrastructure

Speech/audio

Reinforcement learning

ML frameworks

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, CS, or related field

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

JAX

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Knowledge Catalog Search and Discovery

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Benefits

In accordance with Washington state law, we have a comprehensive benefits package available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:

• 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

By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Sunnyvale, CA, USA; Kirkland, WA, USA.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 5 years of experience testing and launching software products, and 3 years of experience with software design and architecture.
• 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 ML design and ML infrastructure (e.g., model deployment, model evaluation, data processing, debugging, fine tuning).
• Experience in modern ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, or JAX).

Preferred qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 8 years of experience with data structures/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 modern search architectures, including two-stage retrieval systems (bi-encoders and cross-encoders), semantic search, and vector embeddings.

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.

You will lead the evolution of the Knowledge Catalog’s search experience owning the end-to-end ML lifecycle for search relevance. You will spend your days designing, prototyping, and rapidly testing advanced information retrieval techniques to ensure users can intuitively find the exact data assets they need.

You will turn search signals into intelligent features, dive deep into user query logs, click-through data, and catalog metadata to identify relevance gaps, systematically addressing them by training and tuning models that continuously elevate our core search metrics like NDCG and precision.

You will collaborate with core catalog engineers to seamlessly integrate your models into our high-throughput indexing and retrieval pipelines, ensuring that our search infrastructure remains highly scalable, robust, and capable of delivering sub-100ms response times.

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

US: $207000 - $301000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance large scale software solutions.
• Provide technical leadership on high-impact projects. Manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Facilitate alignment and clarity across teams on goals, outcomes, and timelines. Influence and coach a distributed team of engineers.
• Lead the design and implementation of solutions in specialized ML areas, optimize ML infrastructure, and guide the development of model optimization and data processing strategies.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the users we serve, creating a culture of belonging, and providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), expecting or parents-to-be, criminal histories consistent with legal requirements, or any other basis protected by law. See also Google's EEO Policy, Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal, Belonging at Google, and How we hire.

Google is a global company and, in order to facilitate efficient collaboration and communication globally, English proficiency is a requirement for all roles unless stated otherwise in the job posting.

To all recruitment agencies: Google does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Google employees, or any other organization location. Google is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Equity is granted exclusively and discretionarily by Alphabet Inc. on the basis of an agreement concluded between you and Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is your sole contractual partner with respect to equity grants. GSU grants are not guaranteed, are discretionary, are subject to approval by the Alphabet Inc. board of directors or its delegate, the terms of the relevant Alphabet Inc. stock plan, and your grant agreement. They have no impact on statutory payments. Current or past grants do not confer an acquired right.