Technical Founder Advocate, Startups, Google Cloud

Google Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 211,000 - 293,000; Full time

Job summary

Google Cloud seeks a Technical Founder Advocate to engage with founders and executives, guiding architectural decisions and forming long-term tech partnerships in a highly matrixed startup environment. Based in San Francisco, the role emphasizes autonomy, leadership, and strategic input to product development.

Ideal candidates have deep AI/ML expertise, experience with startups, and a proven ability to influence across engineering and business teams without direct authority.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/CE or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 years of experience in software engineering, cloud-native architecture, or AI/ML systems, including startup exposure.
• Experience engaging with founders, executives, and internal executive stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Engage, onboard, and provide technical advisory to high-potential founders, building early, high-trust relationships to influence architectural decisions.
• Serve as the central point of contact for founders navigating Google's ecosystem, securing custom resource allocations.
• Collaborate with Venture Ecosystem teams to lead technical workshops and scale adoption.
• Act as liaison between startup founders and internal product, engineering, and research teams.
• Expand Google's presence across key tech hubs by leading advanced technical workshops and delivering developer talks.

Skills

Outcome ownership

Decision making

Problem solving

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

GPUs/TPUs

JAX

PyTorch

Cloud-native orchestration

Job description

Technical Founder Advocate, Startups, Google Cloud

Google San Francisco, CA, USA

Advanced

Experience owning outcomes and decision making, solving ambiguous problems and influencing stakeholders;deep expertise in domain.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 years of experience in software engineering, cloud-native architecture, or AI/ML systems, including experience building or developing technology within early-stage or venture-backed startups.
• Experience engaging with founders, executives, and internal executive stakeholders.

Preferred qualifications:

• Direct experience as a startup Founder, Co-Founder, or Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who has successfully built, scaled, and navigated a technical venture through early-stage growth, venture funding, or acquisition.
• Expert-level knowledge of advanced AI concepts, including large language models (LLMs), generative media, specialized hardware accelerators (GPUs/TPUs), machine learning frameworks (e.g., JAX, PyTorch), and cloud-native orchestration.
• Proven ability to operate autonomously in highly matrixed environments, influence cross-functional engineering and business teams without direct authority, and act as a strategic voice back to product development groups.

About the job

Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

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

US: $211000 - $293000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits

• Engage, onboard, and provide technical advisory to high-potential founders, building early, high-trust, peer-to-peer relationships to influence foundational architectural decisions and establish long-term technology partnerships.
• Serve as the central, zero-friction point of contact for founders navigating Google’s broader ecosystem, securing custom resource allocations and bypassing typical operational friction.
• Collaborate closely with Venture Ecosystem teams including venture capital business development, startup accelerator programs, and developer relations teams to lead technical workshops and scale adoption.
• Act as the liaison between startup founders and internal product, engineering, and research teams.
• Expand the company's presence across key technology hubs by designing and leading advanced technical workshops, delivering keynotes at premier developer events, and maintaining a strong professional standing on public developer platforms.

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.

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.