The ideal candidate will have
10+ years of software engineering and distributed systems experience.
Strong hands-on expertise building large-scale platforms using GCP.
Prior Google experience or substantial exposure to Google's 1P ecosystem.
Experience leading teams as a Technical Lead (TL) or Engineering Lead.
Deep understanding of distributed systems, data platforms, AI/ML systems, and cloud-native architectures.
Proven ability to bridge technical strategy with hands-on execution.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Architecture & Vision
Define long-term technology roadmaps aligned with business objectives.
Lead architecture and design for data, analytics, AI/ML, and platform engineering initiatives.
Design scalable and resilient systems leveraging
BigQuery
Vertex AI
Dataflow
Dataproc
Cloud Composer
Event-driven and microservices architectures
Drive engineering standards, code quality, platform governance, and architectural consistency.
Make critical technology decisions considering scalability, reliability, maintainability, and cost efficiency.
Translate business requirements into technical specifications and executable engineering plans.
First-Party Google Engineering Expertise
Candidates with prior Google experience should demonstrate deep working knowledge of Google's internal engineering ecosystem, including:
Compute, Serving & Deployment
Strong understanding of Borg and large-scale cluster orchestration principles.
Experience with Google's service deployment ecosystem including Boq, Pods, and microservice-based architectures.
Knowledge of capacity planning, resource management, rollout strategies, and production deployment processes.
Storage & Data Infrastructure
Experience designing systems leveraging
Spanner
Colossus (CNS)
Placer
Understanding of data consistency, replication, distributed transactions, and geo-distributed storage systems.
Development Ecosystem
Deep familiarity with
google3
CitC (Clients in the Cloud)
Monorepo development practices
Experience managing complex dependency structures and large-scale codebases.
Strong working knowledge of
Blaze
BUILD files
Dependency management
Build optimization
Engineering Excellence
Experience with Google's
Code review culture
Critique
Readability standards
Ability to establish engineering excellence through code quality, testing, and design reviews.
Serve as the technical quality bar for the program.
Observability & Reliability
Experience with reliability engineering practices.
Familiarity with
Monarch
Dapper
Production monitoring
Distributed tracing
Service health management
AI-Assisted Engineering
Familiarity with Google internal AI development tooling and developer productivity systems.
Experience using AI-assisted development practices to improve engineering velocity and quality.
Exposure to tools such as JetSki and modern GenAI-enabled software development workflows is preferred.
Delivery Leadership
Own end-to-end delivery of strategic client programs.
Ensure successful execution across architecture, engineering, testing, deployment, and production support.
Lead distributed teams across multiple geographies.
Drive governance, risk mitigation, dependency management, and stakeholder communication.
Step into hands-on engineering during critical program phases when necessary.
Balance short-term delivery goals with long-term platform sustainability.
Client Leadership
Serve as trusted technical advisor to senior client stakeholders.
Lead architecture reviews, strategy discussions, and executive presentations.
Translate complex technical concepts for both engineering and business audiences.
Identify opportunities to drive innovation and business impact through technology.
Technical Leadership & Team Development
A successful Engineering Lead will demonstrate
Technical Vision
Convert ambiguous business problems into executable technical solutions.
Create clear engineering roadmaps and architectural direction.
Team Enablement
Identify roadblocks before they impact delivery.
Manage dependencies across engineering, product, security, infrastructure, and platform teams.
Drive alignment and execution across multiple stakeholders.
Mentorship & Talent Development
Mentor engineers and technical leads.
Delegate effectively while maintaining accountability.
Foster a culture of technical excellence, learning, and innovation.
Help engineers grow through coaching, design reviews, and stretch opportunities.
Required Qualifications
Engineering Experience
10+ years of software engineering, data engineering, or platform engineering experience.
Proven leadership as an Engineering Lead, Technical Lead, Staff Engineer, or Principal Engineer.
Experience delivering enterprise-scale distributed systems.
Google Cloud Expertise
Hands-on expertise with
BigQuery
Dataflow
Vertex AI
Dataproc
Cloud Composer
GKE
Cloud Run
Serverless technologies
Programming
Strong proficiency in
Python
Go
Data Systems
Experience with
SQL
PLX
Dremel
Spanner
Distributed data platforms
DevOps & MLOps
CI/CD pipelines
Infrastructure as Code
Containerization
Kubernetes
Automated testing
MLOps platforms
Preferred Google Experience
Strong preference for candidates with
Prior Google engineering experience.
Experience building and operating systems inside the Google 1P ecosystem.
Exposure to Borg, Spanner, Blaze, Monarch, Dapper, google3, Critique, and related internal tooling.
Pay
The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. At Fractal, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the starting base range is: $225,000. In addition, you may be eligible for a discretionary bonus for the current performance period.
Benefits
As a full-time employee of the company or as an hourly employee working more than 30 hours per week, you will be eligible to participate in the health, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability plans in accordance with the plan documents, which may be amended from time to time. You will be eligible for benefits on the first day of Employment with the Company. In addition, you are eligible to participate in the Company 401(k) Plan after 30 days of employment, in accordance with the applicable plan terms. The Company provides 11 paid holidays and 12 weeks of Parental Leave. We also follow a “free time” PTO policy, allowing you the flexibility to take the time needed for either sick time or vacation.
Fractal provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!
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