Software Engineer III, Performance

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.

The Core team builds the technical foundation behind Google’s flagship products. We are owners and advocates for the underlying design elements, developer platforms, product components, and infrastructure at Google. These are the essential building blocks for excellent, safe, and coherent experiences for our users and drive the pace of innovation for every developer. We look across Google’s products to build central solutions, break down technical barriers and strengthen existing systems. As the Core team, we have a mandate and a unique opportunity to impact important technical decisions across the company.Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $147000 - $210000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Track the AI market, including the latest open-source models, frameworks, and research breakthroughs to identify SOTA algorithmic optimization opportunities.
• Identify and validate SOTA algorithmic optimizations (e.g., quantization, mxfp4) through white-glove projects for key internal customers.
• Drive end-to-end impact by transitioning validated algorithms and recipes to the Frontier Model Performance (manual optimization) and Automation teams, ensuring streamlined scaling.
• Collaborate on hardware/software co-design to guide future TPU architecture (e.g., nvfp4) and product capabilities.
• Develop custom kernels (Pallas) for new algorithmic efficiency techniques, and put them into production for 3P/OSS and 1P models.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 2 years of experience with software development in one or more programming languages.
• 2 years of experience with performance, large-scale systems data analysis, visualization tools, or debugging.
• 2 years of experience with computer architecture, performance analysis, and performance modeling.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science or related technical fields.
• 2 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
• Experience with hardware-software algorithmic co-design and computer architecture analysis.
• Experience developing accessible technologies.
• Strong background in ML models and systems.