Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Engineer jobs in Sunnyvale are concentrated in the Downtown Sunnyvale corridor, the Lawrence Expressway tech belt, and the Mathilda Avenue business district, with strong demand across semiconductor, cloud infrastructure, and networking hardware sectors. Employers hiring right now include Google, Walmart, and Intuitive (Intuitive Surgical). See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
Find Staff Software Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 868+ Staff Software Engineer jobs











Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Sunnyvale, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA.
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
- 8 years of experience programming in C++.
- 5 years of experience with design and architecture, and testing and launching software products.
- Experience with C, High Performance Computing, Remote Direct Memory Access, Storage Systems, System Design, and Kernel Drivers.
Preferred qualifications:
- Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
- 8 years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
- 5 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams and setting technical direction.
- 3 years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization involving cross-functional, or cross-business projects.
- Experience with Storage Systems or Machine Learning Infrastructure.
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.
The High Performance Networking (HPN) team’s mission is to deliver scalable, state-of-the-art high-performance networking solutions to support a various range of high performance workloads for Google and Google Cloud .
The HPN team is at the core of Google's AI infrastructure. We design, deliver, and sustain Google's end-to-end RDMA stack, comprising:
Core IPU components and Linux kernel/Guest RDMA drivers.
Industry-leading acceleration technologies such as TPUDirect, TPUDirect Storage (TDS), and GPUDirect Storage (GDS).
As a Senior Staff Software Engineer, you will lead the evolution of this stack. You will drive the integration of the high-performance networking layers with industry-leading Parallel File Systems (PFS) and storage servers. Your technical leadership will directly shape the efficiency, scalability, and performance of Google's hyperscaler platform for next-generation AI/ML training and inference workloads.
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: $262000 - $364000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Technical Leadership and Mentorship: Lead and coach a distributed engineering team, fostering innovation while aligning cross-functional groups on goals, priorities, and deliverables.
- Large-Scale and LLM Architecture: Design and deploy scalable software and advanced serving architectures, optimizing the LLM serving stack for efficiency and reliability.
- Performance and Network Engineering: Architect performant network transport across various NICs and platforms, tuning the communication stack to accelerate HPC, RDMA, and ML workloads.
- Strategic Roadmap and Trends: Partner with cross-organizational leaders to co-develop roadmaps bridging RDMA, storage, and AI/ML, staying ahead of training and inference advancements.
- Collaborative System Integration: Collaborate with hardware, software, and systems engineers to bridge communication gaps and ensure seamless hardware-software integration.
See All 868+ Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale
Find roles in Sunnyvale that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Software Engineer JobsStaff Software Engineer Job Market in Sunnyvale
Who's Hiring
- Google420

- Walmart128

- Intuitive (Intuitive Surgical)82

- Uber46

- General Motors (GM)37

Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software73
- Artificial Intelligence27
- Automotive18
- Electronics & Hardware18
- Banking & Financial Services18
Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a staff software engineer job in Sunnyvale?
The strongest path into Sunnyvale's staff software engineer market is targeting the semiconductor, networking hardware, and cloud infrastructure companies that anchor the city's tech economy. Roles tend to cluster around employers in the Mathilda Avenue corridor and the area near Lawrence Expressway. Candidates with experience in distributed systems, embedded software, or platform engineering move fastest here. Demonstrating large-scale system ownership, not just individual contribution, is what separates competitive applicants in this market.
Which companies hire staff software engineers in Sunnyvale?
Sunnyvale staff software engineer roles are posted by Google, Walmart, and Intuitive (Intuitive Surgical) and others right now, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Sunnyvale attracts a mix of established semiconductor and networking giants alongside cloud-focused growth-stage companies, making it one of the denser hiring markets on the Peninsula for senior individual contributor engineers.
Are there remote staff software engineer jobs in Sunnyvale?
Yes, though remote availability at the staff level varies by team and product area. About 14% of staff software engineer openings tied to Sunnyvale are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting a market that skews toward hybrid arrangements rather than fully distributed. Platform, backend infrastructure, and developer tooling roles in Sunnyvale tend to offer the most remote flexibility compared to hardware-adjacent or embedded software positions.
How can I get a staff software engineer job in Sunnyvale with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in Sunnyvale is through associate or mid-level software engineer roles at one of the city's larger networking or semiconductor employers, which run structured progression programs that promote from within. Companies with large hardware and firmware teams often hire engineers from adjacent disciplines like test automation or DevOps as lateral moves. Building hands-on experience with distributed systems or FPGA toolchains, common requirements among Sunnyvale employers, accelerates that progression significantly.
Which industries hire the most staff software engineers in Sunnyvale?
Most staff software engineer openings in Sunnyvale sit in Technology & Software, Artificial Intelligence, and Automotive, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Sunnyvale's concentration of semiconductor design, enterprise networking, and cloud infrastructure companies creates sustained demand at the staff level, where deep platform or systems expertise is the baseline expectation rather than a differentiator.
Related Jobs in California
See All 868+ Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Sunnyvale
Find roles in Sunnyvale that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Software Engineer Jobs