Senior
Kernel and storage systems engineer optimizing Google Cloud's flash storage stack
Google Cloud is hiring a software engineer to optimize the kernel storage stack, Linux drivers, firmware, and user-space interfaces for flash storage, plus build fleet-scale storage analytics infrastructure. The JD asks for 5 years building large-scale infrastructure/distributed systems and hands-on kernel/kernel-driver experience.
Step into this interview
Free · a live voice mock calibrated to this exact role
Likely format
Google SWE loop: phone screen with coding, then onsite/virtual onsite rounds mixing coding (DS&A), systems/domain deep-dive on storage or kernel internals, and a Googleyness/leadership behavioral.
What this interview tests
- Kernel storage stack and Linux driver internals
- Firmware / user-space interface optimization for flash
- Fleet-scale storage analytics and monitoring infrastructure
- Storage security hardening
- Large-scale distributed systems design
- Data structures & algorithms
Common question themes
Describe a kernel driver or storage stack optimization you shipped and how you measured it
Design real-time analytics infrastructure to monitor storage device health across a large fleet
How would you improve storage security without regressing performance
Tradeoffs in kernel-space vs user-space storage optimization
Data structures/algorithms coding problem
How would you use device telemetry to inform life-cycle/repair decisions
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