Principal Engineer, Google Compute Engine Fleet Infrastructure

Senior • On-site

$294,000 - $414,000/yr

Seattle, WA , +1

Minimum qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
15 years of professional experience or 13 years with an advanced degree.
Experience leading the architecture of fleet-wide software orchestration and maintenance systems.
Technical experience in large-scale distributed systems, compute infrastructure, multi-tenancy, and cloud reliability.

Preferred qualifications:

Advanced degree (e.g., Master's degree or PhD) in Computer Science or a related technical field.
Experience with the specific technical demands of large-scale AI/ML workloads.
Experience engaging with executive technical counterparts at large enterprise customers to solve complex infrastructure challenges.
Expertise in kernel-level development, virtualization, and data plane systems.
Ability to drive large-scale, multi-year technical programs across multiple, disparate engineering organizations.

About the job

Google Compute Engine (GCE) empowers its users with a comprehensive suite of virtual machine (VM) and Baremetal instances for General-Purpose, Compute-Optimized, Memory-Optimized, Storage-Optimized and GPU/TPU-Accelerated Workloads. GCE is used by businesses of all sizes, from startups to Large Enterprises running AI/ML, Cloud Native, and mission critical workloads. We work closely with hardware partners and Google’s engineering teams to harness the latest advancements in CPU (x86/ARM), Storage, Network, GPU/TPU virtualization, all backed by security, reliability, and performance.

As Principal Engineer, you will play the pivotal role in solving Google Cloud's critical infrastructure reliability challenges that directly impacts our most valuable Enterprise and AI/ML customers, whose large-scale workloads on GPU, TPU, and storage-optimized instances rely on infrastructure stability to meet their business needs.

In this role, you will drive the end-to-end technical strategy and architecture to update our fleet's maintenance and software update processes. You will provide the executive technical leadership to move Google Cloud’s infrastructure to a predictable release model. This involves leading the technical direction for complex, multi-year, cross-organizational programs.

Additionally, you will drive the deep architectural innovation required to make disruptions a thing of the past. This is an opportunity to shape the future of cloud infrastructure reliability, directly impacting customer trust, unblocking business generation, and ensuring the fundamental stability of Google Cloud Platform's core compute offerings.

Behind everything our users see online is the architecture built by the Technical Infrastructure team to keep it running. From developing and maintaining our data centers to building the next generation of Google platforms, we make Google's product portfolio possible. We're proud to be our engineers' engineers and love voiding warranties by taking things apart so we can rebuild them. We keep our networks up and running, ensuring our users have the best and fastest experience possible.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $294,000-$414,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

Serve as the single-threaded technical owner for Google's end-to-end compute maintenance strategy, driving the architecture for critical, multi-year programs that eliminate disruptions.
Establish an industry-leading maintenance experience by designing the core data plane and orchestration systems required to meet the stringent reliability demands of large-scale AI/ML clusters.
Drive the development of comprehensive telemetry, benchmarks, and workloads to rigorously monitor the GCE data plane and systematically eliminate all sources of disruption.
Provide executive technical leadership and mentorship across Google Cloud guiding teams to adopt architectural practices that ensure resilience in the complex operating environments.
Engage directly with Enterprise and AI/ML customers to understand their requirements, continuously refining Google Cloud’s architecture and operational practices to maintain Google Cloud's leadership.

Google

Google LLC started as a PhD project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 at Stanford University. Google LLC has blossomed into a behemoth of the tech world. With its mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, Google’s search engine is its crown jewel. Online advertising, via AdWords and AdSense, forms the backbone of its financial success. Beyond search, Google has ventured into cloud computing, hardware, and software development. The innovative PageRank algorithm revolutionized search engine technology, and surviving the dot-com bubble burst and going public in 2004 spurred its meteoric growth. Acquiring YouTube stands as a testament to Google’s strategic expansion.