Software Engineer, Persistent Disk, PhD, Early Career, 2026
Google · Posted Nov 8
Search engine, cloud computing, software, hardware, and artificial intelligence services
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About the role
Google's AI and Infrastructure (AI2) organization builds the software, hardware, and Machine Learning systems infrastructure behind services such as Search and YouTube as well as Google Cloud products, spanning TPUs, Vertex AI, global networking, and data center operations. The Persistent Disk team works on storage, backup, and replication systems at hyperscale. This early-career PhD software engineer role drives research into next-generation storage architectures, prototypes backup and replication algorithms, and improves the reliability, scale, and performance of these systems.
What you will do
- As a key member of a small and versatile team, you design, test, deploy and maintain software solutions.
- As a PhD Software Engineer within AI2, your specialized research expertise will be instrumental in solving complex, real-world problems on an unprecedented scale. You'll engage in innovative projects spanning areas like AI/ML, networking, data storage, security, and distributed systems.
- Drive research initiatives to explore next-generation storage architectures, prototype novel backup/replication algorithms, and evaluate emerging technologies.
- Improve the reliability, scale, and performance of backup and replication solutions while maintaining healthy release cycles.
- Work closely with partners and internal stakeholders to translate complex engineering and research efforts into enhanced customer satisfaction and tangible business growth.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- PhD degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Experience with research and development of data storage, backup, or disaster recovery technologies.
- Experience conducting research on storage systems, including publishing findings.
- Experience in architecture or development of distributed systems, including concurrency, multi-threading, or synchronization.
- Experience coding in one of the following programming languages including but not limited to: C, C++, Python Java or Golang.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with data management tools and technologies including data pipelines frameworks, database engines, and file and object stores.
- Experience contributing to research communities including publishing at conferences (e.g., CVPR, NeurIPS, ICCV/ECCV, BMVC).
- Expertise in designing and implementing complex systems for either production or experimental use.
- Proficiency in performance analysis or the analysis of systems data.
- Excellent engineering capabilities.
- Availability to commence a full-time position in 2026.
Benefits and support
- Compensation and benefits are detailed in the job posting
About Google
Google LLC is an American multinational technology company focusing on artificial intelligence, online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, and consumer electronics. As a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., it is widely recognized for services like Google Search, YouTube, Android, and the Gemini AI ecosystem.
- Industry
- Internet
- Company size
- 180000+ employees
- Founded
- 1998-09-04
- Location
- Mountain View, California, USA
- Funding stage
- Public Company
Funding
Public Company · $25M raised
- 1999-06-07Series A$25M
Leadership
Chief Executive Officer
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer
Chief Executive Officer, Google Cloud
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