Is Google Setting Up Shop in Austin?

Josh over at random graphs has an interesting scoop indicating that internet behemoth Google might be opening up an office in Austin.

An "Engineering Director" position was recently posted to the Google Jobs site. The req states that the opening is "available in Austin, Texas" and, more interestingly, calls for the chosen candidate to lead a "group of 100+ engineers" and deal with "an informal startup environment." The posting doesn't elaborate on whether said "projects" include Google's search function, Gmail, or any of their more widely-known applications.

Meanwhile, Sean of The Sound of Crickets Chirping connects this with several cryptic photos that were posted to flickr last November, which suggested the existence of an as-yet-unknown "Google (Austin R&D Office)."

Our gut instinct tells us that this is legit, especially considering that this city is so focused on the tech industry (read: geeks abound!), has a university with one of the finest CS programs in the nation, and is ridiculously more affordable than Google's Silicon Valley headquarters. We're just surprised they didn't stake their claim earlier.

Related:
Google Keeps Tweaking its Search Engine (NYTimes)

Photo by nimitimin on flickr

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Allen Y Chen in News on June 6, 2007 11:26 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

The Unknown Guy

This rumor is absolutely true regarding Google moving to Austin. The new office is going to be the second floor of the Scarbrough building at 6th and Congress. This is a very large space that will be able to accommodate at least 100 people. This Austin office will be primarily an engineering office and it probably won't open until late spring once the space is built out.

The Unknown Guy

This rumor is absolutely true regarding Google moving to Austin. The new office is going to be the second floor of the Scarbrough building at 6th and Congress. This is a very large space that will be able to accommodate at least 100 people. This Austin office will be primarily an engineering office and it probably won't open until late spring once the space is built out.

Justin Arthur

It's a good bet considering that they're putting on the next Austin Java Users Group.

Joe F.

Check out 700 N Lamar, Suite 200B 78703 for the Austin Google location. Don't know how many people or what they may or may not be doing, but someone with Google Inc. as their legal business name resides there.

Jurgen

per a Charlie Rose or something interview, Google is planning to set up R&D offices in a few select cities in the US to pluck the best/brightest from tech-rich labor pool and universities. This would not be a total relocation of their headquarters, just one office.

allen

ahhh, JUBCHA. welcome back!

JUBCHA

WILL THEY HAVE A BURGER KING INSIDE? I MIGHT APPLIE.

shut up

Stan, if it's not obvious to you that one guy is pissed because you were right and he's a douche then it's obvious to me.

miguel

I think Stan needs to start his own Ist site, something like, "Contrarian-know-it-all-early twentysomething-hubris-ist"

Stan

There's an office that has a small team that works out of it.

They still won't admit during recruiting calls and interviews that this office will be expanded into a full blown office.

My statements still stand and are factual based on my firsthand experiences with Google.

Huh?

Stan,

First you mention, "There's already a Google office in Austin and has been for a while."

Two posts later you write "But they still won't admit a full blown office is possibly coming."

Do you even realize that you're contradicting yourself as you share from your vast cavern of knowledge, or does it just flow out of you before you can realize how full of shit you are?

Stan

M1EK--

They have changed their tune in the past 6 months and have hinted that working from Austin is an option... once you get past the first rounds of interviews and/or they make an offer.

But they still won't admit a full blown office is possibly coming.

M1EK

Unlikely but possible. I had several contacts with their recruiters over the last 2 years in which I indicated no interest in relocating - one would think they might mention "oh, we're opening an office there". I'd give more credit to the theory that they might be about to BUY an existing startup and move in their own management or something.