Senior Staff Software Engineer, Google Compute Engine (Guest Ecosystem)

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.

The Guest Platform team enhances Google Cloud’s customer experience by simplifying agent deployment for SAP and AI/ML workloads via Virtual Machine (VM) Extensions.

The Guest Ecosystem is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer to unify its three core pillars—ContainerOS (COS), Guest OS, and Guest Platform—into a single product surface. Transitioning from "image maintenance" to building an automated OS substrate, this organization delivers the secure, optimized foundation powering Google Compute Engine (GCE) VMs, Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud SQL, Vertex AI, and major AI/ML workloads.

In this role, you will serve as the primary technical authority, owning the multi-year roadmap, leading fleet-wide migrations, and mentoring senior technical leads.

Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s 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: $262000 - $365000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical goal and roadmap for the Operating System image portfolio. Align with organizational goals to support first-party/third-party customer needs, focusing on versioning, hardening, optimization, and platform integration.
• Establish testing frameworks to deliver out-of-the-box, qualified images across compute families. Monitor reliability via service level objective (SLOs), robust validation (security, compatibility), and incident management.
• Harden Operating System images, drive regular vulnerability scanning, and ensure timely patching to mitigate emerging threats.
• Partner with NPI teams to ensure Day-0 GCE compatibility and continuous validation on next-generation CPUs, TPUs, and GPUs.
• Collaborate with operating system vendors and open-source communities.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience with software development in one or more general purpose programming languages.
• Experience building and developing large-scale infrastructure or distributed systems.
• Experience within a quota-carrying team, such as people management, team lead, mentorship or coaching.
• Experience leading cross-functional projects.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Experience with high availability systems and production systems.
• Experience with Linux Internals, Kernel, and Virtualization.
• Ability to work in ambiguous, fast-changing environments.

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

In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include: