Research Engineer, Special Projects - Expeditionary Engineering
Special Projects, Organizational Imagination
Snapshot
The Future Systems Research group within Google DeepMind runs an expeditionary special projects program focused on unfamiliar opportunity spaces that do not yet fit standard roadmap categories. We design and test decision-grade artifacts that help leaders assess where model capabilities can support durable human value in consumer and knowledge-work systems.
This role sits in Special Projects, Organizational Imagination, where the function is to make ambiguous futures operationally legible. We produce prototypes, comparative evaluations, and policy-aware implementation packages that improve strategic decisions before large commitments are made.
About the role
We are hiring a senior Research Engineer, Special Projects - Expeditionary Engineering to shape and build this capability. You will turn uncertain problem framings into tangible systems and artifact portfolios that help teams align on credible next moves.
Baseline technical skills are treated as hygiene in this role. Differentiation comes from your ability to work across disciplines, create robust prototypes under ambiguity, and convert speculative probes into practical refactors of programs, priorities, and interfaces.
You will partner with research, product, policy, safety, and engineering leadership to ensure exploratory work influences operational decisions. The output is concrete: prototypes, instrumented studies, field-ready demonstrations, governance notes, and implementation wedges that can be adopted by teams.
Key responsibilities
- Lead expeditionary engineering cycles from framing through prototype delivery, evaluation, and executive readout.
- Design and implement speculative probes that test long-horizon consumer-device and interaction futures in ways that remain measurable and reproducible.
- Translate weak signals, emergent model behaviors, and social context into artifact-based investigations that sharpen strategic options.
- Build working prototypes across software, hardware-adjacent systems, and narrative artifacts that clarify tradeoffs before roadmap lock-in.
- Develop evaluation frameworks that combine model performance with meaningful human outcomes over extended use horizons.
- Convert findings from speculative projects into action-oriented program refactors, scoped pilots, and implementation plans.
- Partner with Safety, Policy, and Product to ensure exploratory concepts are governable, auditable, and aligned with deployment constraints.
- Mentor a compact interdisciplinary group that can move between concept development, technical prototyping, and organizational integration.
About you
- 10+ years of experience spanning engineering, research, design, and organizational delivery in high-ambiguity environments.
- Demonstrated generalist capability with deep technical fluency and durable cross-disciplinary authorship.
- Track record of creating prototypes or systems that changed major product, strategy, or policy decisions.
- Experience operating both within established institutions and in entrepreneurial or independent contexts.
- Strong judgment informed by humanities, STS, anthropology, media practice, or related sociotechnical disciplines.
- Excellent communication range across writing, facilitation, technical explanation, and executive synthesis.
- Specialists need not apply unless they can demonstrate sustained cross-domain ownership and delivery.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience building hardware-software prototypes and translating them into deployable product pathways.
- Evidence of serious creative practice, including publication, public speaking, exhibitions, teaching, or community-led work.
- Background in speculative design, design fiction, or adjacent artifact-led research approaches in production settings.
- Experience creating internal methods, playbooks, and review rituals that improve decision quality under uncertainty.
Experience
- Advanced degree or equivalent practice history in engineering, HCI, design, STS, anthropology, media arts, or related fields.
- Portfolio required, including prototypes, systems, publications, and decision outcomes linked to your work.
- Demonstrated ability to integrate analytical rigor with hands-on making across multiple media.
Additional information
- This role is based in Mountain View, California with regular in-person collaboration.
- Relocation support is available for candidates moving to the Bay Area for this role.
- Immigration and visa sponsorship support is available where legally permissible.
- Periodic travel is expected for field studies, partner sessions, and cross-site program work.
- You will work with confidential pre-roadmap initiatives and must exercise strong discretion.
Compensation and benefits
In the United States, the annualized cash compensation range for this role is $410,000 - $780,000, plus bonus and equity opportunities.
Compensation is determined by skills, impact, and experience. This role includes comprehensive medical coverage, retirement plans, paid leave, mobility support, and technical infrastructure budgets for expeditionary prototyping work.
Additional context
This role is responsible for shaping plausible futures through artifacts that teams can evaluate, critique, and operationalize before roadmap decisions harden.
Policy and legal notices
Google DeepMind is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or protected veteran status.
If you require accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know and we will provide support.
By applying, you acknowledge that your personal information will be processed in accordance with the applicable Google and Greenhouse candidate privacy notices.
This posting remains active on a rolling basis and may be updated as team needs evolve.
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