Staff Software Engineer, AI Agent, Google Cloud IAM Infrastructure at Google
Kirkland, WA
$207,000–$301,000from the description
Jul 21, 2026
Kirkland, WA
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A staff-level engineering role focused on building authorization infrastructure for AI agents within Google Cloud's IAM platform. The work centers on designing and developing a core authorization system that handles identity and access control for LLM-based and multi-agent deployments at scale. The role suits a senior engineer with a background in large-scale distributed systems, cloud security, and applied AI/ML who is comfortable setting technical direction and mentoring others.
Staff level · 8+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 3 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 630 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 260–940
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
Compensation is $207,000–$301,000/year base plus a 20% bonus target and equity (GSUs); equity is discretionary and granted by Alphabet Inc.
The role is explicitly titled 'Staff Software Engineer' and requires 5 years of technical leadership, but the responsibilities include mentoring and growing a team of engineers. The JD does not describe formal people-management (hiring, performance reviews, budget), so this is treated as a hands-on Staff IC role rather than an engineering manager role; 11-3021 is noted as a runner-up given the mentoring and cross-org influence scope.
The degree requirement states 'Bachelor's degree … or equivalent practical experience.' Normally this would map to None, but the minimum qualifications section frames it as a hard gate with no explicit 'or equivalent experience' escape for the degree itself — the phrase 'or equivalent practical experience' modifies the field of study, not the degree level. Treated as a Bachelors hard gate accordingly.
The 3-year AI/ML requirement is explicitly scoped to 'infrastructure or security domains' in the minimum qualifications.
Data structures and algorithms (8 years) and C++ appear under Preferred qualifications, as does the Master's/PhD and the cross-functional/matrixed organization experience.
Cloud security experience is listed under Preferred qualifications only.
Locations are Kirkland, WA and Seattle, WA — both fall within the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue CBSA. No remote option is indicated.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): data structures and algorithms.
Read the full posting
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