Staff Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Engineer jobs in Sunnyvale are concentrated in the semiconductor, cloud infrastructure, and consumer electronics sectors, with demand anchored in the Murphy Avenue corridor, downtown Sunnyvale, and the broader Lawrence Expressway technology belt. Companies posting right now include Google, Walmart, and Uber. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 294+ Staff Engineer jobs
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 15 years of experience in network architecture, router platform engineering, NPU/ASIC forwarding design, or distributed routing systems.
- Experience with core routing and traffic engineering protocols used in hyperscale networks, including BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, Segment Routing (SR-MPLS/SRv6), and modern SDN/management interfaces (e.g., OpenConfig, gNMI, gRIBI, or P4Runtime).
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience integrating or debugging Broadcom, Silicon One, or comparable switch ASIC SDKs and SAI implementations.
- Experience with high-speed SerDes, physical-layer interface architectures, and signal integrity considerations for board- and system-level routing designs.
About the job
Google Cloud's software engineers develop the next-generation technologies that change how billions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one another. 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 Cloud's needs with opportunities to switch teams and projects as you and our fast-paced business grow and evolve. You will anticipate our customer needs and be empowered to act like an owner, take action and innovate. 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.
Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.US: $222000 - $308000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Partner with silicon vendors to optimize NPU forwarding pipelines, evaluating trade-offs in VoQ scheduling, table partitioning, FIB compression, and high-scale ECMP/WCMP.
- Advance large-scale routing and SDN protocols, including BGP, IS-IS, Segment Routing (SRv6), MPLS, and programmatic APIs like gRIBI and P4Runtime.
- Design high-throughput tunneling and line-rate encryption (MACsec, IPsec), managing match-action tables and telemetry while mitigating parser limits and expansion overhead.
- Architect and deploy innovative network structures such as disaggregated AI WAN fabrics and commoditized NOS abstractions that remove vendor constraints.
- Shape multi-year hardware, silicon, and system roadmaps for high-scale, air- and liquid-cooled platforms across Core and Edge networks.
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 15 years of experience in network architecture, router platform engineering, NPU/ASIC forwarding design, or distributed routing systems.
- Experience with core routing and traffic engineering protocols used in hyperscale networks, including BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, Segment Routing (SR-MPLS/SRv6), and modern SDN/management interfaces (e.g., OpenConfig, gNMI, gRIBI, or P4Runtime).
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience integrating or debugging Broadcom, Silicon One, or comparable switch ASIC SDKs and SAI implementations.
- Experience with high-speed SerDes, physical-layer interface architectures, and signal integrity considerations for board- and system-level routing designs.
About the job
Google Cloud's software engineers develop the next-generation technologies that change how billions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one another. 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 Cloud's needs with opportunities to switch teams and projects as you and our fast-paced business grow and evolve. You will anticipate our customer needs and be empowered to act like an owner, take action and innovate. 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.
Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.US: $222000 - $308000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Partner with silicon vendors to optimize NPU forwarding pipelines, evaluating trade-offs in VoQ scheduling, table partitioning, FIB compression, and high-scale ECMP/WCMP.
- Advance large-scale routing and SDN protocols, including BGP, IS-IS, Segment Routing (SRv6), MPLS, and programmatic APIs like gRIBI and P4Runtime.
- Design high-throughput tunneling and line-rate encryption (MACsec, IPsec), managing match-action tables and telemetry while mitigating parser limits and expansion overhead.
- Architect and deploy innovative network structures such as disaggregated AI WAN fabrics and commoditized NOS abstractions that remove vendor constraints.
- Shape multi-year hardware, silicon, and system roadmaps for high-scale, air- and liquid-cooled platforms across Core and Edge networks.
See All 294+ Staff Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale
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Find Staff Engineer JobsStaff Engineer Job Market in Sunnyvale
Who's Hiring
- Google71
- Walmart42
- Uber34
- Synopsys22
- Fortinet15
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software27
- Electronics & Hardware10
- Cybersecurity8
- Telecommunications6
- Automotive5
Staff Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a staff engineer job in Sunnyvale?
The strongest path into Sunnyvale staff engineer roles is through experience in semiconductor design, cloud platform engineering, or wireless hardware, the areas where local hiring is deepest. Candidates who can demonstrate cross-functional technical leadership at a senior or principal level stand out most. Networking within the Lawrence Expressway and downtown Sunnyvale corridors, where large semiconductor firms and consumer tech campuses cluster, gives you a meaningful local edge over remote applicants.
Which companies hire staff engineers in Sunnyvale?
Sunnyvale staff engineer roles are posted by Google, Walmart, and Uber and others right now, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. The local employer mix skews heavily toward established semiconductor manufacturers, cloud infrastructure providers, and consumer electronics companies that maintain large Sunnyvale campuses rather than pure startups.
Are there remote staff engineer jobs in Sunnyvale?
Yes, though availability depends on the specialization. About 26% of staff engineer openings tied to Sunnyvale are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting the mixed nature of the local market. Software-focused staff engineer roles in cloud and platform engineering tend to offer the most remote flexibility, while hardware, chip design, and lab-adjacent positions typically require on-site presence at Sunnyvale facilities.
How can I get a staff engineer job in Sunnyvale with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a senior software engineer or senior hardware engineer role at one of Sunnyvale's mid-size semiconductor or networking companies, where the staff engineer level is reachable within two to three years of demonstrated technical impact. Local employers in the wireless and storage sectors have historically promoted from within. Building depth in a specific technical domain, such as SoC design or distributed systems, and contributing to visible cross-team projects accelerates that progression more than breadth alone.
Which industries hire the most staff engineers in Sunnyvale?
The sectors hiring the most staff engineers in Sunnyvale are Technology & Software, Electronics & Hardware, and Cybersecurity, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Sunnyvale's long history as the geographic core of Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry means these sectors maintain consistently large engineering headcounts and promote staff-level roles at a higher rate than most other U.S. cities.
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