Software Engineer III, Infrastructure, Spanner SQL Language

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 Spanner SQL Language team is at the heart of Spanner's usability and adoption at planet scale. Our mission is to enrich and own the complete SQL interface for both GoogleSQL and PostgreSQL dialects by designing and implementing core SQL language features, data types, and functions. By expanding our overarching SQL capabilities, we make Spanner's industry-leading distributed relational database more powerful, versatile, and easier for customers to migrate their complex relational workloads to or build upon.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to own significant SQL language features end-to-end, from design through implementation, launching features which run at planet-scale, learning from experts in distributed databases, and directly impacting Spanner's compatibility and appeal to a broader range of users across Google Cloud.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.

Responsibilities

• Write product or system development code.
• Participate in, or lead design reviews with peers and stakeholders to decide amongst available technologies.
• Review code developed by other developers and provide feedback to ensure best practices (e.g., style guidelines, checking code in, accuracy, testability, and efficiency).
• Contribute to existing documentation or educational content and adapt content based on product/program updates and user feedback.
• Triage product or system issues and debug/track/resolve by analyzing the sources of issues and the impact on hardware, network, or service operations and quality.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 2 years of experience with software development or 1 year of experience with an advanced degree in an industry setting.
• 2 years of experience with developing large-scale infrastructure, distributed systems or networks, or experience with compute technologies, storage or hardware architecture.
• Experience with C++, data structures and algorithms, databases, large-scale computing, database internals.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience designing, building, or maintaining large-scale distributed systems.
• Thoughtful experience in designing and developing clear, robust, and maintainable Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for scalable services.
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL internals, extension development, or significant experience using it at scale.
• Deeper understanding of database engine internals (e.g., query processing, storage engines, transaction management), especially in scalable environments.
• Deep understanding or experience working with the GoogleSQL dialect.