Senior Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack, YouTube Ads
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Sep 25, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 24, 2026.
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.
YouTube Ads mission is to power the YouTube ecosystem by keeping it free and engaging for users, responsibility rewarding creators and connecting businesses to their unique audiences.
The YouTube Ads Surfaces and Experiences (S&E) team drives the mission to define and build the ad experience framework across all of YouTube's surfaces, including Shorts, Feeds, Search, and Watch.
As a Senior Staff SWE, you will be responsible for driving the long-term engineering strategy for enabling format optimizations, new experieces, incorporating organizational business priorities and technological shifts, such as new AI capabilities.Google Ads is at the forefront of AI innovation, applying cutting-edge machine learning and Generative AI models like Gemini to power a multi-billion dollar global business.
Our work directly impacts billions of users by protecting users from harm, improving ad quality, and optimizing campaigns for advertiser return-on-investment. We foster a culture of deep collaboration, partnering closely with teams like Google Research and DeepMind to solve complex challenges. Join us to work on state-of-the-art AI, take on problems at an unparalleled scale, and build the next generation of advertising technology.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.US: $262000 - $364000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Drive the long-term engineering strategy by incorporating organizational business priorities and technological shifts, such as new AI capabilities.
- Own key technical decisions and make data-driven choices to guide the team through important design tradeoffs, long-term strategy, system health, and risk management.
- Identify system hotspots to improve the organization's technical health, ensuring calculated investments remove widely-felt barriers to productivity and feature throughput.
- Invest in growing the next generation of technical leaders through direct coaching and scalable mentorship initiatives.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure features are built consistently across different surfaces, balancing specific platform constraints to make decisions that are best for the business.
Qualifications
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
- 8 years of experience with full stack development, across back-end such as Java, Python, GO, or C++ codebases, and front-end experience including JavaScript or TypeScript, HTML, CSS or equivalent.
- 5 years of experience architecting, building, and launching large-scale digital advertising systems and platforms.
Preferred qualifications:
- Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
- Experience leading full stack engineering, distributed systems teams, or quality teams, effectively leading technical strategy and scaling architecture.
- Experience strategically anticipating and mitigating obstacles in ambiguous or rapidly shifting environments.
- Ability to strategically anticipate and mitigate obstacles in ambiguous or rapidly shifting environments.