Tech Lead, YouTube Main App Services

As the Tech Lead for the team responsible for YouTube’s core server infrastructure, you will shape the technical strategy for the YouTube application. In this role, you will lead an engineering team in architecting high-performance solutions capable of handling multiple requests per second. You will innovate with machine learning to personalize the viewer experience and collaborate across the organization to enable feature launches globally.

At YouTube, we believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share, and build community through our stories. We work together to give everyone the power to share their story, explore what they love, and connect with one another in the process. Working at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and boundless creativity, we move at the speed of culture with a shared goal to show people the world. We explore new ideas, solve real problems, and have fun — and we do it all together.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $207,000-$300,000 + 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.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architectural evolution of core server systems, ensuring they remain scalable.
• Ensure the performance and reliability of critical services, maintaining high availability standards for users worldwide.
• Drive innovation in machine learning to personalize the user journey, from optimizing interface elements to developing new models for an engaging experience.
• Mentor and grow the team, fostering a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and high-quality engineering practices.
• Define technical standards that empower partner teams to launch features reliably across the platform.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in software development.
• 5 years of experience with full-stack development across the backend (e.g., Java, Python, GO, or C++) and frontend (e.g., JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, or equivalent).
• 5 years of experience testing and launching user-facing software products and features.
• 3 years of experience with software design and architecture.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with machine learning systems and using data-driven insights to drive technical and product strategy.
• Experience as a tech lead for a consumer-facing product (e.g., search, ads, or social media platforms).
• Experience in distributed systems design, architecting high-performance services that manage multiple requests per second.
• Experience building maintainable and scalable back-end platforms.
• Experience in C++ or other systems-level programming languages.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills with the ability to influence technical direction and align cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., product, UX, and reliability engineering).