Staff Software Engineer - Cloud Assist Optimize

Google Cloud's software engineers develop next-generation technologies that change how billions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one another. The Staff Software Engineer on the Google Cloud Assist Optimize team will be a principal technical leader, setting long-term goals to empower developers and engineers to manage costs on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) through AI. Google Cloud delivers enterprise-grade solutions leveraging cutting-edge technology to customers in more than 200 countries and territories.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience architecting, building, and shipping distributed systems in a cloud environment.
• 8 years of experience with software development in one or more programming languages (Python, Go, Java, C++).
• 2 years of experience in applied Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), shipping production ML systems and building prototypes with Large Language Models (LLMs).

Nice to have:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Experience influencing the technical roadmap and strategy for an entire product area or organization.
• Experience in algorithms, data structures, and system design for high-throughput, low-latency services.
• Experience with one or more public cloud platforms.
• Experience in cost optimization, financial operations or building resource forecasting and recommendation systems.
• Knowledge of advanced AI techniques (e.g., Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Chain-of-Thought (CoT), ReAct, function calling, agentic frameworks) and their practical application in solving real-world problems.

• Drive the overarching technical strategy and architecture for the entire suite of AI-powered optimization agents.
• Design and prototype foundational frameworks and systems that enable multiple engineering teams to build, test, and deploy AI agents rapidly and reliably.
• Lead cross-team design and architecture reviews for the most critical systems, ensuring technical direction is coherent, scalable, and mitigates long-term risk.
• Partner with executive leadership to define a multi-year technical roadmap and translate the needs of Developers, Platform Engineers, and Financial Operations partners into a clear, actionable technical strategy.
• Solve the most testing, cross-cutting technical problems that span multiple systems or teams, often with no clear owner.