Senior Systems Engineer

Senior Systems Engineer

Houston; New York; San Francisco; Seattle; US

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Systems Developer to lead the design, development, and operation of large-scale distributed systems powering high-performance infrastructure. This role goes beyond implementation—you will drive architectural decisions, influence system design across teams, and set the standard for building reliable, scalable, and efficient systems.

You will operate at the intersection of software and infrastructure, partnering closely with platform, networking, and hardware teams to deliver production-grade systems at significant scale.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design and development of large-scale distributed systems (1000+ nodes)
• Own critical services across compute and network infrastructure, ensuring reliability and performance at scale
• Drive system architecture decisions, including scalability, fault tolerance, state management, and data consistency
• Partner cross-functionally to deliver end-to-end solutions from concept through production and ongoing operation
• Mentor and guide engineers, raising the technical bar across the team
• Diagnose and resolve complex, system-level issues spanning software, networking, and infrastructure layers
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve performance, reliability, and operational efficiency through automation and tooling
• Influence long-term technical strategy and roadmap for distributed systems infrastructure

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 8–12+ years of experience building and operating large-scale production systems
• Deep understanding of operating systems, distributed systems, and computer networking
• Strong proficiency in multiple programming languages (e.g., Python, Java, C/C++, Go)
• Proven experience owning systems and services across the full development lifecycle
• Strong technical leadership, problem-solving ability, and communication skills
• Participate in an on-call rotation to support production systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Linux systems and performance optimization
• Strong background in distributed systems architecture, including data synchronization, fault tolerance, and state management
• Experience with large-scale compute, storage, and networking environments
• Familiarity with server and GPU hardware architecture and system-level optimization
• Experience with high-performance networking (e.g., InfiniBand, RoCE)
• Hands-on experience building and operating public cloud or data plane services
• Experience with databases and caching systems (e.g., MySQL, Redis, Memcached)

What We're Looking For

• A systems leader who can think at scale and drive architectural clarity in complex environments
• Someone who takes ownership of critical systems and drives them end-to-end
• A pragmatic engineer who balances speed, quality, and long-term maintainability
• A mentor and multiplier who elevates the team around them

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

Salary Range

$180,000 - $240,000 USD