Sr. Technical Support Engineer (L3 Engineering)

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. 

DataDirect Networks Inc. (DDN) engineering organization is seeking a highly focused, self-motivated, innovative, and goal-oriented engineer to fill the role of Senior Technical Support Engineer for its “Continuation Engineering and Level 3 Engineering Support” team. The prospective candidate must have good analytical and debugging skills in Linux/ Virtualization environments to help the technical support team to resolve technically challenging customer issues. The primary role involves system level troubleshooting, debugging & root cause analysis of DDN Storage Solutions as well as triage customer issues escalated by Technical Support teams & Professional Services. This is a multifaceted role that require collaboration with other team members, developers, technical support personnel as well as with other product teams who are spread around the globe.

This is a remote position with occasional travel to Chatsworth, CA. or Colorado Springs, CO. office. This person should be able to commute to either office 1 day every 4-6 weeks.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Triage, diagnose, and troubleshoot problems with DDN’s storage systems in customer production environments. 
• Take ownership of customer cases, validate technical aspects, and drive it to resolution with root cause and necessary modifications to the product.
• Provide engineering support to Professional Services, Technical Support and directly to customers.
• Provide hands on assistance with field escalations.
• Strategically analyze field issues and generate product features to improve product quality and useability.
• Understand customer requirements and work towards enhancing the product quality and customer experience by improving reliability, serviceability & usability.
• Collaborate, coordinate feature development & timely release of software patches targeting customer reported field issues.
• Review the product documents and provide necessary feedback for both internal and external customer needs
• Conduct product & features training session to Technical Support & Professional Service groups.
• Clearly communicate complex technical topics to the varied knowledge levels of customers.
• Ability to multi-task and manage competing priorities, ensuring all objectives are accomplished.
• Provide on-call assistance (outside of regular working hours) as needed during critical customer issues.
• Collaborate with peers located around the globe.

Minimum Requirements:

• More than 5 years of hands on experience in software development and product support.
• Well versed with Linux internals, kernel level coding & debugging, be conversant with GDB
• Understand the complexities & challenges in the high-speed parallel data transmission including but not limited to SAS, SCSI, NVME Fabric, IP over IB, Fibre Channel & InfiniBand topologies.
• Excellent analytical and methodical problem-solving skills especially with complex HW/SW interaction problems on a typical high end embedded platform.
• Strong communication skills (both written and verbal).

Desired Requirements:

• Software development with strong C programming.
• Strong understanding of operating system architecture & principles including good understanding of Linux device drivers.
• Experience in working directly with customers and other technical team members regarding technical issues with critical customer impact.
• Ability to manage complex customer issues, take ownership & drive them to final resolution.
• Prior experience in interfacing with customers in helping them troubleshoot product problems during install and production.
• Thrives and enjoys working in a high-paced, high demanding, fast-changing work environment.
• Knowledge of storage products, cloud storage, cloud computing, data center operations.
• Demonstrable understanding of data storage concepts: RAID/Erasure Coding, block storage & parallel file systems.
• Knowledge of large-scale file systems like GPFS, Lustre or other parallel file systems.
• Proven collaborative skills and a very good team player.
• Experience and flexibility in working with teams across countries and different time zones.

Education:

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer/Electrical/Electronics/Instrumentation Engineering or equivalent.

Salary starting at: $130,000/YR

#LI-Remote

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.