
Senior Staff Software Engineer, AI Mode and AI Overviews Helpfulness
New York, NYJob$262–364K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today
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At a glance
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Job overview
The Senior Staff Software Engineer will improve Google Search’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, focusing on response helpfulness and quality. The team works on foundational AI quality through model improvements, prompt optimization, evaluations, and live experiments. The role owns technical strategy and roadmap, builds scalable quality infrastructure and self-improving systems, and collaborates to align priorities and technical direction.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Senior Staff Software Engineer, AI Mode and AI Overviews Helpfulness
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Advanced
Experience owning outcomes and decision making, solving ambiguous problems and influencing stakeholders; deep expertise in domain.
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XIn most instances, this position requires in-person interviews as part of the hiring process.
Minimum qualifications:
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Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
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8 years of experience in software development.
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7 years of experience leading technical project strategy, ML design, and working with end-to-end applied machine learning (e.g., model deployment, model evaluation, data processing, debugging).
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5 years of experience with design and architecture; and testing/launching software products.
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Experience in AI/ML quality evaluation and improvement.
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Experience integrating generative AI tools or LLM interfaces into workflows.
Preferred qualifications:
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Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
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8 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
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5 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams and setting technical direction.
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3 years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization involving cross-functional, or cross-business projects.
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Experience driving quality improvements out-of-model (prompting, APO, modular serving, orchestration) and in-model (post-training and evals).
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.
This team focuses on improving foundational AI overview quality from collaboration with Deepmind partners to improve underlying one recipe models to end-to-end quality with prompt optimization, quality evaluations, and live experiments. Our team's mission is to deliver quality by optimizing response helpfulness to ensure the right content is included in a way that is easy to consume.
In this role, you will work on improving Google Search's flagship GenAI experiences, including AI overviews and AI mode, to be a trusted knowledge companion with conversations that feel natural and effortless.
In Google Search, we're reimagining what it means to search for information – any way and anywhere. To do that, we need to solve complex engineering challenges and expand our infrastructure, while maintaining a universally accessible and useful experience that people around the world rely on. In joining the Search team, you'll have an opportunity to make an impact on billions of people globally.
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 aboutbenefits at Google (https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/benefits/) .
Responsibilities
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Own the technical strategy and roadmap for whole-response helpfulness across AI mode and AI overviews.
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Architect scalable quality infrastructure and closed-loop self-improving systems that shorten the path from experiment to launch.
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Drive quality improvements out-of-model and in-model.
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Define how all aspects of our work (measurement, hill-climbing, upstreaming) should be adjusted to account for response aspects beyond text.
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Establish strong collaborations to align priorities and technical direction.
Information collected and processed as part of your Google Careers profile, and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Google'sApplicant and Candidate Privacy Policy (./privacy-policy) .
Google is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the users we serve, creating a culture of belonging, and providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), expecting or parents-to-be, criminal histories consistent with legal requirements, or any other basis protected by law. See alsoGoogle's EEO Policy (https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/eeo/) ,Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal (https://careers.google.com/jobs/dist/legal/EEOC\_KnowYourRights\_10\_20.pdf) ,Belonging at Google (https://about.google/belonging/) , andHow we hire (https://careers.google.com/how-we-hire/) .
If you have a need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing ourAccommodations for Applicants form (https://goo.gl/forms/aBt6Pu71i1kzpLHe2) .
Google is a global company and, in order to facilitate efficient collaboration and communication globally, English proficiency is a requirement for all roles unless stated otherwise in the job posting.
To all recruitment agencies: Google does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Google employees, or any other organization location. Google is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.
Equity is granted exclusively and discretionarily by Alphabet Inc. on the basis of an agreement concluded between you and Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is your sole contractual partner with respect to equity grants. GSU grants are not guaranteed, are discretionary, are subject to approval by the Alphabet Inc. board of directors or its delegate, the terms of the relevant Alphabet Inc. stock plan, and your grant agreement. They have no impact on statutory payments. Current or past grants do not confer an acquired right.
Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also https://careers.google.com/eeo/ and https://careers.google.com/jobs/dist/legal/OFCCP_EEO_Post.pdf If you have a need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form: https://goo.gl/forms/aBt6Pu71i1kzpLHe2.
How this job compares
Set against the 42,014 open Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 7, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$262–364K/yr
- New York median$158–225K/yr2,411 salary ranges
- US median$135–219K/yr33,393 salary ranges
This range's midpoint, $313K, is 63% above the New York median midpoint ($193K) — in the top quarter of Software Engineer salary ranges in New York.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 3,110 open Software Engineer jobs in New York and 42,014 across the US. 8% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 8 years of experience — more than three in four Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 34,412 postings).
- Education
- 13,315 of the 42,014 open Software Engineer jobs (32%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 7, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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