Principal Engineer, Merchant Shopping

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or other relevant engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience working as a technical software engineering leader.
• 10 years of experience in software development, with a focus on API design, protocol development, or large-scale distributed systems.

• Master's or PhD degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or other relevant engineering discipline.
• Experience designing for extensibility and backwards compatibility in APIs or protocols.
• Experience in the domains of e-commerce, payments (e.g. PCI-DSS), or identity (e.g., OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, Web Authn, Verifiable Credentials).
• Experience leading the architecture of large-scale integration platforms, software development kits (SDKs), or protocols.
• Experience building and maintaining developer tools, software development kits (SDKs), or libraries used by external developers.

We are the core team behind the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard designed to redefine digital commerce. UCP provides a common language for merchants, payment providers, identity systems, and AI agents to interact seamlessly and securely. We are building the foundational infrastructure for the future of agentic commerce.

As an Principal Engineer, you will be instrumental in shaping the future of commerce by directly designing protocol schema and interfaces for commerce capabilities like identity linking, checkout, and payments, etc. You will provide technical leadership in charting the protocol, technical direction, building the tools that drive its adoption, and engaging with a global community of partners and developers. This role requires a blend of deep technical expertise in identity, checkout, payments, APIs, foundational protocol design, a passion for open standards, and the ability to build high‑quality developer tools.

In this role, you will lead a technical committee with architects and distinguished engineers across the industry to shape how commerce gets built for the agentic era. You will also lead the technical expansion of the protocol into different verticals and international markets.

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is $294,000—$414,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Learn more about benefits at Google.

• Lead the design and evolution of the UCP core protocol, including new capabilities, extensions, and handler models for identity, payments, and future verticals.
• Author and refine technical specifications, JSON schemas, OpenAPI/OpenRPC definitions, and enhancement proposals for review by the Tech Council (TC).
• Design, build, and maintain high‑quality software development kits (SDKs), validation tools, reference implementations to accelerate protocol adoption and ensure compliance.
• Serve as a technical leader within the UCP community, engaging with Domain Working Groups (DWGs), partners, and contributors to drive consensus, gather feedback, and guide technical implementations.
• Provide technical direction and mentorship to contributors and team members, establishing best practices for API design, security, extensibility, and backwards compatibility. Work closely with the Tech Council (TC) and Governing Council (GC) on the protocol roadmap and governance processes.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form.