Staff Software Engineer, Backend Infrastructure and Rapid Prototyping, Google Labs

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain large-scale distributed backend infrastructure while providing technical leadership for generative media projects. Facilitate cross-team alignment and prototype innovative cross-stack features that bridge generative pipelines with user interfaces.

Requirements

Requires a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent and at least 8 years of software development experience. Candidates must have specialized experience in ML infrastructure, generative AI integration, and technical leadership.

Skills

• Software Development
• Software Architecture
• Machine Learning
• Generative AI
• Large Language Models
• Distributed Systems
• Backend Infrastructure
• Technical Leadership
• Data Structures
• Algorithms
• Multimodal Generation
• API Design
• System Design
• Reinforcement Learning
• Synthetic Media

Benefits

• Bonus
• Equity
• Health Insurance
• Retirement Plan

About this role

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

* Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, 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 speech/audio, reinforcement learning, ML
infrastructure, or another specialized ML field.
* 5 years of experience leading ML design, optimizing end-to-end ML
(deployment, evaluation, tuning), and integrating generative AI tools or
Large Language Model (LLM) interfaces.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

* Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related
technical field.
* 8 years of experience with advanced data structures and 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 building distributed queueing infrastructure or rapidly
prototyping cross-stack generative AI applications.

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.

At Google Labs, we incubate early-stage technologies that define the future of
computing and AI. We operate as small, autonomous, product-driven teams that
move with startup speed, take bold technical bets, and build breakthrough user
experiences. Within Labs, the Language Applications organization builds
foundational platforms and consumer products, including NotebookLM, Google AI
Studio, and the Gemini API.

Our focus is pushing the frontier of synthetic media—audio, video, dynamic code,
and interactive visual artifacts. We build the foundational systems that turn
generative models into instant, intuitive, and reliable experiences for millions
of creators, researchers, and knowledge workers worldwide.

Labs is a group focused on incubating early-stage efforts in support of Google’s
mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible
and useful. Our team exists to help discover and create new ways to advance our
core products through exploration and the application of new technologies. We
work to build new solutions that have the potential to transform how users
interact with Google. Our goal is to drive innovation by developing new Google
products and capabilities that deliver significant impact over longer
timeframes.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

Learn more about benefits at Google
[https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/benefits/].

RESPONSIBILITIES:

* Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance large-scale software
solutions and resilient distributed backend infrastructure.
* Provide technical leadership on generative media projects, managing project
priorities, deadlines, and architectural deliverables.
* Facilitate alignment and clarity across teams on goals, outcomes, and
timelines, while influencing and coaching a distributed team of engineers.
* Lead the design and implementation of solutions in specialized ML areas,
optimize ML infrastructure, and guide model optimization and data processing
strategies.
* Prototype innovative cross-stack features and clean APIs that bridge core
multimodal generation pipelines with interactive user interfaces.

About Google

Software Development · 10,001+ employees · headquartered in Mountain View, CA