Staff Software Engineer, Content Safety Lead

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
  
• 8 years of experience in software development, and with data structures/algorithms.
• 5 years of experience testing, and launching software products, and 3 years of experience with software design and architecture.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 3 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams and setting technical direction.
• Experience building and maintaining classifiers in production (e.g. ML Ops).
  
• Experience in working with large language models (LLM).
  
• Experience or demonstrated interest in anti-abuse operations, abuse fighting at scale, and LLM safety.

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.

User Protections is part of the Privacy, Safety, and Security (PSS) organization in Core, with a mission to keep users safe, at scale. Within User Protection, our team is responsible for protecting Google from being used in the most severe, real-world harms (e.g., abuse and exploitation, non-consensual imagery, and more) through abuse intervention strategies and technologies that are deployed across Google’s flagship products to keep users safe on and off-platform.

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.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $189,000-$284,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all US locations. 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

• Collaborate with engineering and machine learning teams to define, document, and promote best practices and standards for software development and machine learning model development.
• Lead the development and deployment of impactful and sustainable solutions that deliver measurable business value while considering ethical implications and resource efficiency.
• Improve machine learning development and operational processes by identifying and implementing innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and scalability.
• Negotiate with foundational model owners on safety strategy.
• Facilitate alignment and clarity across teams on goals, outcomes, and timelines. Manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables.