Principal Software Engineer

Overview

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC  

“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA  

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence. 

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management. 

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage. 

Job Description

We are seeking a Software Engineering Lead – NFS with deep expertise in data path and I/O performance for large-scale distributed file systems. This role is for a senior technical leader who drives NFS architecture across the storage stack, from low-level code paths to system-wide behavior at massive scale.

You will define strategy, guide architectural decisions, and lead complex NFS implementation for high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems. This role combines hands-on technical depth with broad architectural influence.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own architecture for NFS across distributed file systems
• Drive performance analysis and optimization of large-scale, high-performance, scale-out file systems
• Architect performance-aware NFS design and architecture
• Drive optimization of performance-critical distributed file system code, primarily in C++
• Help drive best practices for performance measurement, profiling, benchmarking, and regression detection
• Lead deep-dive investigations into complex, system-wide issues
• Influence system architecture with a performance-first mindset around NFS and accompanying tradeoffs against other protocols
• Mentor senior and staff engineers on engineering techniques and methodologies
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure goals are met across the stack
• Represent NFS considerations in design reviews and long-term roadmap planning

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in NFS engineering, systems engineering, or distributed systems
• Deep understanding of distributed file systems and scale-out storage architectures
• Expert-level knowledge of NFS and distributed file systems
• Strong proficiency in C++ with extensive experience in performance-critical code
• Proven expertise in performance measurement techniques, including profiling, tracing, benchmarking, and custom tooling
• Strong foundation in distributed systems principles, including scalability, concurrency, and fault tolerance
• Demonstrated experience optimizing file system or storage system code for performance at scale
• Experience with high-performance, high-scale-out file systems in production environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with kernel-level and user-space I/O stacks
• Deep understanding of modern storage hardware (NVMe, SSDs, RDMA, high-speed networking)
• Experience building or evolving performance frameworks and benchmarking infrastructure
• Background in parallel programming, lock-free or low-contention designs
• Experience influencing architecture across multiple teams or large codebases

What Success Looks Like

• Clear performance architecture guiding system design and implementation
• Significant, measurable improvements in throughput, latency, and scalability
• Early identification and prevention of performance regressions
• Performance expertise that elevates engineering quality across the organization

Salary range for this role: $250,000 - $315,000

DDN

Join our dynamic and driven team, where engineering excellence is at the heart of everything we do. We seek individuals who love to challenge themselves and are fueled by curiosity. Here, you'll have the opportunity to work across various areas of the company, thanks to our flat organizational structure that encourages hands-on involvement and direct contributions to our mission. Leadership is earned by those who take initiative and consistently deliver outstanding results, both in their work ethic and deliverables, making strong prioritization skills essential. Additionally, we value strong communication skills in all our engineers and researchers, as they are crucial for the success of our teams and the company as a whole.

Interview Process: After submitting your application, one of our recruiters will review your resume. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 30-minute interview during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the interview, you will enter the main process, which can consist of up to four interviews in total:

• Coding assessment: Often in a language of your choice.
• Systems design: Translate high-level requirements into a scalable, fault-tolerant service (depending on role).
• Real-time problem-solving: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
• Meet and greet with the wider team.
• Our goal is to finish the main process in 2-3 weeks at most.

DataDirect Networks (DDN) is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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