Senior Staff Security Engineer, Google Distributed Cloud

The Senior Staff Security Engineer for Google Distributed Cloud will embed security expertise across the product development lifecycle. This role focuses on protecting customer data and Google IP from hardware through application layers while shaping security architecture and operational readiness for large-scale distributed systems.

Role Focus

In this position, you will lead security architecture and threat modeling for GDC products, support incident response and root-cause analysis, and help drive secure-by-design practices from inception through deployment. You will also provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers, including executive-level partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead security architecture, threat modeling, and design reviews for GDC products to maintain a strong security-by-design posture from early stages through deployment.
• Drive long-term security strategy and a roadmap for large-scale distributed systems by identifying systemic risks and complex architectural vulnerabilities and acting to mitigate them.
• Partner with engineering, SRE, and product teams to establish and drive adoption of organization-wide security standards, best practices, and secure coding patterns.
• Lead complex security incident response efforts, perform root-cause analyses, and implement scalable remediation strategies to protect the integrity of GDC infrastructure.
• Deliver technical leadership and mentorship to junior and executive engineers, supporting a culture of security excellence and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 years of experience with security engineering, computer and network security, and security protocols.
• 10 years of experience with security assessments, security design reviews, or threat modeling.
• 10 years of coding experience in one or more general-purpose languages.
• Experience working on Linux internals.
• Experience managing Kubernetes environments, deploying containerized applications, monitoring cluster health, and troubleshooting issues.

Technologies

• Linux
• Kubernetes
• Containerized applications
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Encryption
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
• Cloud workload protection platforms

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in hardware security and reverse engineering.
• Experience with Security Compliance and Accreditation processes.
• Experience with cloud security concepts and technologies, including IAM, encryption, DLP, SIEM, cloud workload protection platforms, and threat detection and prevention solutions.
• Experience in vulnerability management, risk assessment, triage, or remediation.
• Experience designing, implementing, and verifying security controls.

Compensation and Location

• Location: Seattle, WA (onsite)
• Compensation: USD 262,000 - 364,000 per year

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• 40 hours/year sick time (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle), including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• 13 paid days per year

Working Location Options

When applying, you will have the opportunity to share your preferred working location from: Sunnyvale, CA, USA; Kirkland, WA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA.