Information Security Engineer, Hardware Security — Google Switzerland
- Location
- Zürich
- Contract
- Full-time
- Posted
Full description
Minimum qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 2 years of experience with offensive security research, with a focus on practical, real-world attacks.
- Experience in systems security, specifically finding and mitigating vulnerabilities at the intersection of hardware and software (e.g., Kernel, Hypervisor, Firmware).
Preferred qualifications
- Experience building or using tools to discover, analyze, or reproduce hardware-level vulnerabilities.
- Understanding of Confidential Compute technologies (TEEs) and microarchitectural concepts, including speculative execution and side-channels.
- Track record of taking responsibility for technical outcomes in high-pressure security environments, such as vulnerability response or complex architectural reviews.
- History of public engagement, including published research, conference presentations, or contributions to open-source security projects.
- Ability to provide subject matter expertise to business stakeholders to help prioritize and remediate security risks based on technical impact analysis.
About the job Our Security team works to create and maintain the safest operating environment for Google's users and developers. Security Engineers work with network equipment and actively monitor our systems for attacks and intrusions. In this role, you will also work with software engineers to proactively identify and fix security flaws and vulnerabilities.
The industry relies on operating systems and hardware security boundaries that are not good enough. Some of these were historically believed to be secure and we have recently come to terms with what they are, and some we had no other choice at the time. Our mission is to enable applications from Google and the world to have secure operating system and hardware privilege boundaries. We secure Google and the world by reviewing and strengthening the privilege boundaries that applications assume to be secure (e.g., virtualization layer, kernel seccomp layer, co-scheduling, process isolation). These boundaries are larger than Google so require a collaborative effort to secure.
Responsibilities
- Help responses to microarchitectural vulnerabilities by assessing their impact at Google’s scale and coordinating remediation with internal teams and external vendors.
- Contribute to architectural reviews, and improvements for Confidential CPU, GPU, and TPU environments.
- Research and develop long-term, systematic mitigations—such as robust isolation primitives—to ensure that hardware vulnerabilities never pose a significant risk to the world again.
- Partner with internal product teams to design applications that are architecturally resilient to modern hardware threats from day one.
- Collaborate deeply with hardware vendors and research institutions to share knowledge, triage impacts, and inform the design of a more secure future.
Requirements
2 years of experience with offensive security research, with a focus on practical, real-world attacks.
Questions about this listing
What salary does Google Switzerland offer for this role?
The original listing does not state a salary. Our estimate for this role and sector in Zürich is CHF 83'000 - 126'000 gross per year — an estimate, not a figure communicated by Google Switzerland. The calculator on this site converts a gross salary into your actual net take-home once cross-border tax and social contributions are applied.
Is this a full-time role, and what type of contract does Google Switzerland offer?
This listing is a full-time position. The contract type shown here comes directly from the employer's original posting; always confirm exact hours, notice period and probation length with Google Switzerland during the application process, since these details can vary by role even within the same contract category.
Do I need a cross-border work permit for a role in Zürich?
EU/EFTA citizens living in an EU/EFTA state can apply for a G permit and can work anywhere in Switzerland: border zones no longer apply to them, and they must return home at least once a week. The Swiss employer files the request with Canton Zürich's migration office after the contract is signed. Processing times vary by canton, so confirm the specifics with Zürich's cantonal migration office or with HR during the application.
How do I apply for this position at Google Switzerland?
Use the "Apply now" button on this page — it links directly to Google Switzerland's original listing at google.com, so your application goes straight to the employer's own applicant-tracking system. Frontaliere Ticino does not collect or forward applications itself.
