Software Engineer III, AI/ML, Foundational Lanes at Google
Mountain View, CA
$147,000–$211,000from the description
Jul 9, 2026
Mountain View, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role sits within Google Maps' road and lane data team, focused on improving the accuracy and richness of driving navigation. Day-to-day work involves applying machine learning techniques — across areas such as computer vision or reinforcement learning — to extract road and lane attributes from sensor and imagery data, as well as developing geometric algorithms to construct 2D and 3D road shapes. It suits a mid-level engineer with hands-on ML experience from data processing through model deployment.
Mid level · 2+ years · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
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 1,750 people in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 1,300–2,250
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.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $217,796 (middle half $177,469–$231,052). 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)
The role is titled 'Software Engineer III' — Google's level III maps to 'Mid' in their internal ladder, which the posting itself confirms with the descriptor 'Mid Experience'. Seniority is assessed as Mid accordingly.
The primary programming language requirement is Java, Python, or C++ (2 years); these are listed as interchangeable alternatives under the minimum qualifications, so they are captured as one skill with alternatives.
The 1-year ML specialization requirement (computer vision, reinforcement learning, ML infrastructure, or another ML field) is a single gate with named alternatives; computer vision is used as the primary name.
Model deployment, model evaluation, and optimization/data processing are listed as examples of end-to-end ML experience under minimum qualifications and are treated as hard gates.
Master's or PhD in CS is listed under Preferred qualifications, so the degree requirement is set to None (no hard degree gate).
Data structures/algorithms (2 years), computational geometry, and accessible technologies experience all appear under Preferred qualifications.
The alternative occupation code 15-2051 (Data Scientists) is noted because the role has a significant ML/AI focus, but the primary day-to-day work described — writing product/system development code, geometric algorithms, infrastructure — aligns more closely with Software Developers (15-1252).
Compensation is $147,000–$211,000/year plus a 15% bonus target and equity; the bonus and equity are not captured in the comp fields but are noted here.
Read the full posting
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