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.

Our team is building a new type of YouTube content that brings instantly playable games into the YouTube app and making it possible to create and play games on YouTube, a new experience called playables. Our mission is to empower YouTube creators to seamlessly and intuitively create games through the latest in Google AI technology.

In this role you will lead AI efforts for playables game creation. You will guide the team to explore new ways to leverage AI for game creation. You will work with cross-functional team members to develop ways to reduce the barrier to entry for game creation and ensure every prompt a user enters has the best output quality. You will enable new creation features for YouTube creators.

At YouTube, we believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we share and build community through our stories. We work together to give everyone the power to share their story, explore what they love, and connect with one another in the process. Working at the intersection of technology and boundless creativity, we move at the speed of culture with a shared goal to show people the world. We explore new ideas, solve real problems, and have fun — and we do it all together.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $262,000-$365,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Build, improve, and integrate agentic AI solutions for game creation, including planning, game code generation and media creation for use in games.

• Exhibit strategic impact and own outcomes by defining and building playables features that lead to a sustainable business for YouTube and creators.

• Drive alignment with cross-functional partners, and work with cross-organizational teams and collaborate to advance the adoption of new model capabilities.

• Develop and guide a small team to integrate generative AI-powered game creation in YouTube to make it accessible to everyone.

• Leverage AI for content understanding and secure scanning for AI in playables. Prototype new ways of creating, sharing and discovering games in YouTube and playables platform.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

• 8 years of experience in software development.

• 7 years of experience leading technical project strategy, ML design, and working with industry-scale ML infrastructure (e.g., model deployment, model evaluation, data processing, debugging, fine tuning).

• 5 years of experience with one or more of the following: speech/audio (e.g., technology duplicating and responding to the human voice), reinforcement learning (e.g., sequential decision making), ML infrastructure, or specialization in another ML field.

• 5 years of experience with design and architecture; and testing/launching software products.

Preferred qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.

• 8 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.

• 5 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams and setting technical direction.

• 3 years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization involving cross-functional, or cross-business projects.

• Experience with generative AI tools and models to create apps or games.