Principal Engineer Jobs in Mountain View, CA
Principal Engineer jobs in Mountain View are concentrated in the North Bayshore and Castro Street corridors, with additional demand around Middlefield Road and the Route 101 tech corridor, across cloud infrastructure, semiconductor design, and AI platform engineering. Employers hiring right now include Intuit, Microsoft, and General Motors (GM). See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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Showing 5 of 906+ Principal Engineer jobs
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
- 15 years of software engineering or applied research experience building, optimizing, and operating large-scale distributed systems in production. 3 years of experience building AI applications, models, or infrastructure.
Preferred qualifications:
- PhD in Computer Science or related technical field. Track record of technical leadership delivering novel research concepts, algorithms, or systems architectures into production software or commercial platforms.
- 20 years of combined experience across systems research, infrastructure engineering, and commercial product delivery.
- Experience establishing multi-organizational technical strategy across multidisciplinary teams, including research (e.g. DeepMind), core engineering, and product management.
- Ability to engage with research and engineering teams and translate ambiguous infrastructure, security, and production pain points into foundational systems solutions.
- Recognized authority in research community with significant contributions to open-source ecosystems, standards, or industry consortia.
About the job
As a Principal Engineer for AI and Infrastructure Research and Development, you will bring deep systems accuracy to agent scale, connecting cutting-edge model research to large-scale production platforms. In this role, you will define the technical strategy bridging systems infrastructure and agent architectures, such as model inference acceleration, simulation-driven infrastructure optimization, and end-to-end platform efficiency. You will establish the engineering foundations and shared frameworks that enable internal organizations to deploy autonomous agents safely, robustly, and at hyperscale.
Additionally, you will serve as an executive technical advisor and external thought leader, engaging C-suite customers on advanced architecture, delivering keynote perspectives, and shaping industry and governance standards while driving strategic alignment across DeepMind, Core, and Google Cloud.
The AI and Infrastructure team is redefining what’s possible. We empower Google customers with breakthrough capabilities and insights by delivering AI and Infrastructure at unparalleled scale, efficiency, reliability and velocity. Our customers include Googlers, Google Cloud customers, and billions of Google users worldwide.
We're the driving force behind Google's groundbreaking innovations, empowering the development of our cutting-edge AI models, delivering unparalleled computing power to global services, and providing the essential platforms that enable developers to build the future. From software to hardware our teams are shaping the future of world-leading hyperscale computing, with key teams working on the development of our TPUs, Vertex AI for Google Cloud, Google Global Networking, Data Center operations, systems research, and much more.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.US: $307000 - $427000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Define the multi-year architectural outlook and technical strategy for how AI and Infrastructure Research and Development incubates, prototypes and productionizes agent platforms, inference efficiency, and AI systems infrastructure.
- Drive inference optimization through simulation-driven infrastructure modeling, acceleration, and hardware-software co-design.
- Architect shared evaluation harnesses, developer frameworks, multi-tenant standards, and safety rails to lead the AI-native engineering transformation across the organization.
- Partner with DeepMind research and modeling teams to align frontier model requirements with next-generation AI and Cloud infrastructure.
- Lead end-to-end incubation programs, steering experimental systems through rigorous benchmarking, production hardening, and multi-tenant operational deployment.
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
- 15 years of software engineering or applied research experience building, optimizing, and operating large-scale distributed systems in production. 3 years of experience building AI applications, models, or infrastructure.
Preferred qualifications:
- PhD in Computer Science or related technical field. Track record of technical leadership delivering novel research concepts, algorithms, or systems architectures into production software or commercial platforms.
- 20 years of combined experience across systems research, infrastructure engineering, and commercial product delivery.
- Experience establishing multi-organizational technical strategy across multidisciplinary teams, including research (e.g. DeepMind), core engineering, and product management.
- Ability to engage with research and engineering teams and translate ambiguous infrastructure, security, and production pain points into foundational systems solutions.
- Recognized authority in research community with significant contributions to open-source ecosystems, standards, or industry consortia.
About the job
As a Principal Engineer for AI and Infrastructure Research and Development, you will bring deep systems accuracy to agent scale, connecting cutting-edge model research to large-scale production platforms. In this role, you will define the technical strategy bridging systems infrastructure and agent architectures, such as model inference acceleration, simulation-driven infrastructure optimization, and end-to-end platform efficiency. You will establish the engineering foundations and shared frameworks that enable internal organizations to deploy autonomous agents safely, robustly, and at hyperscale.
Additionally, you will serve as an executive technical advisor and external thought leader, engaging C-suite customers on advanced architecture, delivering keynote perspectives, and shaping industry and governance standards while driving strategic alignment across DeepMind, Core, and Google Cloud.
The AI and Infrastructure team is redefining what’s possible. We empower Google customers with breakthrough capabilities and insights by delivering AI and Infrastructure at unparalleled scale, efficiency, reliability and velocity. Our customers include Googlers, Google Cloud customers, and billions of Google users worldwide.
We're the driving force behind Google's groundbreaking innovations, empowering the development of our cutting-edge AI models, delivering unparalleled computing power to global services, and providing the essential platforms that enable developers to build the future. From software to hardware our teams are shaping the future of world-leading hyperscale computing, with key teams working on the development of our TPUs, Vertex AI for Google Cloud, Google Global Networking, Data Center operations, systems research, and much more.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.US: $307000 - $427000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Define the multi-year architectural outlook and technical strategy for how AI and Infrastructure Research and Development incubates, prototypes and productionizes agent platforms, inference efficiency, and AI systems infrastructure.
- Drive inference optimization through simulation-driven infrastructure modeling, acceleration, and hardware-software co-design.
- Architect shared evaluation harnesses, developer frameworks, multi-tenant standards, and safety rails to lead the AI-native engineering transformation across the organization.
- Partner with DeepMind research and modeling teams to align frontier model requirements with next-generation AI and Cloud infrastructure.
- Lead end-to-end incubation programs, steering experimental systems through rigorous benchmarking, production hardening, and multi-tenant operational deployment.
See All 906+ Principal Engineer Jobs in Mountain View
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Find Principal Engineer JobsPrincipal Engineer Job Market in Mountain View
Who's Hiring
- Intuit302
- Microsoft151
- General Motors (GM)113
- Oso Semiconductor113O
- Samsung Research America76
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
Principal Engineer Jobs in Mountain View: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a principal engineer job in Mountain View?
Focus your search on Mountain View's North Bayshore cluster, where large technology platforms and cloud infrastructure companies hire principal engineers at scale, and on the Middlefield Road corridor, home to semiconductor and hardware firms. Candidates who demonstrate end-to-end system ownership, cross-functional technical leadership, and prior experience shipping at hyperscale stand out. Building relationships through local engineering meetups and Mountain View-based tech communities also accelerates the process.
Which companies hire principal engineers in Mountain View?
Employers hiring principal engineers in Mountain View right now include Intuit, Microsoft, and General Motors (GM), based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Mountain View's employer mix skews heavily toward established technology platforms, semiconductor companies, and AI-focused startups that have matured to the stage where they require senior technical leadership rather than generalist engineers.
Are there remote principal engineer jobs in Mountain View?
Yes, though availability depends on the specialization: distributed systems and platform engineering roles tend to support remote work, while hardware, semiconductor, and lab-adjacent roles almost always require on-site presence. About 100% of principal engineer openings tied to Mountain View are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, skewed toward software-defined infrastructure and AI teams rather than chip design or physical systems groups in the area.
How can I get a principal engineer job in Mountain View with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in Mountain View is joining a mid-stage startup in the North Bayshore or Castro Street area as a senior engineer and earning the principal designation through demonstrated scope expansion. Mountain View's density of growth-stage AI and infrastructure companies means there are openings for engineers willing to own systems end-to-end from day one. Targeting roles labeled staff engineer or technical lead at these firms gives you the fastest route to a principal title locally.
Which industries hire the most principal engineers in Mountain View?
Most principal engineer openings in Mountain View sit in Technology & Software, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Mountain View's position at the heart of Silicon Valley means hiring in these sectors is driven by headquarters and core engineering teams rather than regional offices, creating consistent demand for senior-level technical leadership roles.
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See All 906+ Principal Engineer Jobs in Mountain View
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