Principal Engineer, NetSoft

About the job

NetSoft team's mission is to enable agile planning, optimized design and rapid deployment for Google's production and corporate networks. We’re central to the design, planning, and delivery of Google's global network infrastructure, which underpins all of Google's services, including Google Cloud. We operate at the intersection of Infrastructure Engineering, Applied Machine Learning, and Operations Research to build intelligent, autonomous systems that enable Google to scale network capacity and delivery timelines multifold.

As a Principal Software Engineer you will be at the core of our NetSoft Planning and delivery optimization efforts, driving the technical vision for how we strategically scale, plan, and efficiently deliver the network. You will be responsible for defining the next generation of platforms utilizing clean-slate-designs that ensure our network meets stringent Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and that our network builds are never the bottleneck to capacity growth.

Google is committed to a massive investment and acceleration of capacity deployment - "go simple, scale fast" is our rallying cry. The complexity and latency requirement of modern ML- training & serving networking, combined with enormous demand growth, creates a unique, career-defining challenge. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead efforts that directly impact multi-billion dollars in CapEx and are critical to the success of our Cloud business.

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.

US: $307000 - $427000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Lead the migration from batch-oriented planning to a Continuous Capacity Delivery model, where network build signals and material procurement occur automatically as designs are promoted, creating a real-time control loop for network fulfillment.
• Architect and drive implementation of the future systems that provide low-latency checks on the real-world buildability of network plans and designs. This involves modeling critical constraints like material supply, workforce availability, and power/space limitations in real-time.
• Develop sophisticated Signals, Recommendations, and Intelligence (SRI) systems that ingest real-world delivery signals (e.g., shipping delays, labor shortages) and automatically generate high-confidence corrective actions (e.g., automated re-planning, vendor substitution recommendations) to protect customer commitments and minimize delays.
• Drive the software capabilities necessary to support massive architectural shifts

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or similar technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience as a software engineer.
• Experience creating a shared vision, coupled with clear communication and a leadership approach.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science or a related field (e.g., Networking or Security Systems).
• Deep understanding of the latest AI and ML capabilities.
• Demonstrated 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, and streamline both software development and network design processes.
• Proven track record of successfully leading and delivering large-scale, complex network or networked infrastructure transformations from concept to deployment.