About the role

What will you do at Google?

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related technical

field, or equivalent practical experience.

* 15 years of professional experience in software engineering.

* Experience with technical innovation in Infrastructure networking domain.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

* Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science or a field related to Networking

or Networked Systems.

* Understanding of the latest AI and ML capabilities.

* Ability to influence and lead without direct authority, building strong

relationships and driving alignment across teams.

* Ability to upskill teams and integrate AI-driven solutions to improve

large-scale systems such as reducing capacity delivery lead times, improve

testing coverage, etc.

* Exceptional communication skills, including ability to articulate complex

technical concepts to both engineering leaders and non-technical

stakeholders.

* Proven track record of leading and delivering large-scale, complex network or

networked infrastructure transformations from concept to deployment.

ABOUT THE JOB:

As a Principal Software Engineer for Global Network Core (GNC), you will pioneer

the technological vision for a critical mandate. You will discover the defining

technologies and forge the architectural path for Google’s planet-scale Wide

Area Network (WAN), ultimately empowering our largest, most demanding internal

and external AI/ML customers with a backbone network engineered for unmatched

performance.

In this role, you will

make high-stakes technical architecture decisions and
deep-dive into complex distributed systems and network operations. You will
navigate extreme scale and ambiguity, driving cross-functional alignment across
AI2 and DeepMind. In addition, you will not only ensure our network foundation
stays ahead of explosive capacity demands, but also build the most optimal,
high-performance network to power AI training and inference. By acting as a
pivotal liaison between Google's internal engineering and broader academic and
industry research communities, you will guarantee our architecture continuously
outpaces industry standards.
To be effective in this role, you must seamlessly flex between technical depth
and broad strategic influence. You will be expected to foster a welcoming
environment by treating everyone with respect and actively seeking out
perspectives, especially during complex architectural disagreements. You must be
a highly dependable teammate, taking full responsibility for the success and
failure of these critical systems, and delivering high-quality work aligned with
our hybrid, three-day-a-week in-office model. Finally, you must collaborate
effectively—communicating clearly, identifying conflicting goals across partner
organizations, and proactively finding ways to increase alignment to arrive at
the best collective outcomes for Google.
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: $307000 - $427000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google
[https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/benefits/].
RESPONSIBILITIES:
* Lead the design of our new WAN for AI, defining a multi-year engineering
roadmap to deliver 100x more network capacity for explosive AI/ML demand
growth.
* Leverage deep technical knowledge across the full network stack—spanning
physical topology design, vendor strategy, global traffic engineering,
routing device control, and rigorous security and safety protocols.
* Partner across AI & Infrastructure (AI2) and DeepMind to define a core
network product portfolio that meets both AI training and inference needs for
internal and external customers.
* Ensure the new network integrates seamlessly with vertical AI stacks (TPU,
LLMs, JAX/XLA) to dramatically improve performance while driving down unit
costs and deployment lead times for our planning and design partners.
* Collaborate with academic institutions and industry pioneers to anticipate
technology trends, translating external innovations into significant,
long-term competitive advantages for Google's network.

Which skills does this role require?

Software engineeringInfrastructure networkingNetwork architectureWide area networkTraffic engineeringRoutingSecurity protocolsTPULLMsJAXXLAStrategic influenceSoftware EngineeringInfrastructure NetworkingGoogle CloudTraffic EngineeringSecurityCloud ComputingNetwork ArchitectureCapacity PlanningSystem DesignTechnical LeadershipStrategic PlanningResearchData CenterNetwork SecurityPerformance OptimizationGCPMachine LearningProduct Strategy

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