Director of Engineering, General Purpose and Node Platform

About the job

Google’s AI and Infrastructure (AI2) organization’s mission is to "empower customers with breakthrough capabilities and insights by delivering AI and Infrastructure at unparalleled scale, efficiency, reliability and velocity." We build the foundation behind Google and Google Cloud’s compute and AI/ML offerings. We manage the underlying design elements, developer platforms, product components, and infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Drive the strategic direction, engineering execution, and commercialization of the general-purpose compute portfolio across both x86 and ARM architectures.
• Lead the design and delivery of foundational node-level platform capabilities, including overcommit technologies (vCPU/memory overcommit), on-host system live updates, and performance regression management.
• Advocate for next-generation hypervisor and microVM development to build secure, high-density substrates for agentic AI workloads and sandboxed environments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional leadership across technical infrastructure teams (cluster management, container platforms, hardware platform engineering, and security) to align on roadmaps, resource planning, and shared infrastructure goals.
• Manage senior technical talent, engineering managers, and the performance engineering team, while resolving critical customer escalations and ensuring operational excellence across the global compute fleet.

Qualifications

• Minimum qualifications:
• - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• - 15 years of professional experience in software engineering, including team leadership and people management.
• - Experience with cloud infrastructure systems, virtualization substrates, or low-level systems engineering.
• Preferred qualifications:
• - Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• - Experience driving large-scale, multi-year cross-functional programs (e.g., cluster management, Kubernetes, or container engine integrations) under tight deadlines.
• - Experience managing and scaling engineering teams responsible for core cloud infrastructure products.
• - Deep technical knowledge of hypervisors (Hyper-V, KVM, Zen, Cloud Hypervisor), virtual machine managers (VMMs), or Linux kernel internals.
• - Ability to navigate ambiguity, manage high-stakes customer escalations, and align stakeholders around strategic infrastructure decisions.
• - Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of translating complex technical trade-offs for both executive leadership and enterprise partners.

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year

Pay

US: $307000 - $428000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits