Software Engineer, XR Graphics; iOS​/Metal

Staff Software Engineer, XR Graphics (iOS/Metal)

San Jose, CA, USA

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development (e.g., C++).
• 5 years of experience testing and launching software products.
• 5 years of experience with graphics, 3D graphics, GPU programming, mobile GPU, or iOS GPU.
• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field (preferred).
• Experience with GPU programming models.
• Experience with Vulkan.
• Experience identifying performance bottlenecks and optimizing applications.

As a part of the XR Graphics team, you will build the graphics tools and render pipeline for the Android XR platform. You will have expertise in various components of the graphics stack, including shader compilers, graphics Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), tools, and drivers. You will collaborate with key application developers and hardware providers to optimize the performance of the graphics stack.

You will develop and recommend graphics best practices for XR and other rendering environments.

You will work with a variety of graphics hardware and low level APIs, each with their own unique issues. You will have experience with Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and real-time graphics and are adept at squeezing out maximum performance from GPUs.

As a Software Engineer for Android XR, you will leverage your GPU and metal expertise to optimize and enhance performance on iOS. Your work will consist of low‑level graphics details, requiring knowledge of the hardware and relevant APIs. Google's XR team is at the forefront of the next major leap – the convergence of AI and XR. This role is about reimagining how we interact with the world around us, building lightweight XR devices that pair with helpful AI to augment human intelligence.

US base salary range for this full‑time position is $207,000–$300,000 + bonus + equity + benefits.

• Adapt, build, and launch first‑party XR experiences for iPhones paired with next‑generation wearables by developing an open‑source, low‑level GPU profiler that can scale across multiple XR Hardware devices.
• Develop and hyper‑optimize the rendering backends for XR’s 3D engine.
• Refine and extend the programming model for Vulkan graphics rendering on mobile.
• Develop low‑level software for graphics: shaders for distortion correction, rendering algorithms for the “reality” part of Virtual Reality (VR), system software architecture and performance.
• Design, build, and launch cross‑platform XR APIs and Software Development Kits (SDKs) at the intersection of graphics APIs, graphics drivers, and 3D processing.

Google is a proud equal‑opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the users we serve, creating a culture of belonging, and providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), expecting or parents‑to‑be, criminal histories consistent with legal requirements, or any other basis protected by law.