Technical Support Engineer - L3

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. 

The EXAScaler team is seeking a lead support engineer with rich experience in Linux, networking, and parallel filesystem products – particularly Lustre. The support engineer is passionate about problem-solving, possesses excellent analytical and debugging skills, and has seasoned experience working directly with customers. As the Level 3 Support Lead, you are the gateway into EXAScaler product engineering. You take incoming requests from customers that have been escalated by other support engineers in Service and Professional Services. As the product expert, you will resolve problems quickly with your extensive experience with EXAScaler and your access to other product experts. Responsibilities include handling escalated customer requests, diving into source code and configuration files for troubleshooting, root cause analysis, maintenance, and collaborating with development engineers to implement solutions.

Responsibilities

• Become an expert user of EXAScaler and Lustre.
• Triage, diagnose, and troubleshoot problems with the EXAScaler appliance and Lustre file system in production customer environments.
• Provide technical support to Professional Services, Customer Support, and directly to customers.
• Provide hands on assistance with field escalations.
• Employ internal lab equipment to reproduce customer issues, isolate root cause, and identify solutions and workarounds.
• Involve product engineers when deep technical expertise is needed within a specific area of the product.
• Develop processes and tools to accelerate problem analysis.
• Track and coordinate bug fixes and communicate status back to Professional Services, Support, and customers.
• Analyze data from Sales Force (SFDC) and Jira CRMs to realize trends in product defects and escalations.

Requirements

• Eight or more years industry experience in software development for maintaining and supporting Linux-based file systems in production systems.
• Thrives and enjoys working in a fast-paced, fast-changing environment.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• Strong debugger of complex systems.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills especially with complex HW/SW interaction problems.
• Proficiency programming in bash and Python on Linux.
• Development experience with C; experience in Rust and Java is highly desirable.
• Expert in modern Linux environments including general administration and support, Linux kernel building, scripting (bash, Python), and networking.
• Extensive understanding of parallel file system principles (preferably Lustre) as well as operating system architecture & principles.
• Knowledge of AI and HPC workloads, cloud storage, cloud computing, data center operations are desirable.

Education

• BS or MS CS/EE or equivalent with 8+ years of industry experience.

Our team is highly motivated and focused on engineering excellence.

We look for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity.

Engineers are encouraged to work across multiple areas of the company.

We operate with a flat organizational structure.

All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission.

Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important.

All engineers and researchers are expected to have strong communication skills.

They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

Interview Process:

After submitting your application, the team reviews your CV and statement of exceptional work. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 30-minute interview (“phone interview”) during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of four technical interviews:

• Coding assessment in a language of your choice.
• Systems design: Translate high-level requirements into a scalable, fault-tolerant service.
• Systems hands-on: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
• Project deep-dive: Present your past exceptional work to a small audience.
• Meet and greet with the wider team.
• Our goal is to finish the main process within one week.
• We don’t rely on recruiters for assessments.
• Every application is reviewed by a member of our technical team.

DataDirect Networks, Inc. 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.