Senior Manager Engineer - Infinia

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. 

DDN is seeking a dynamic and experienced Sr. Manager of Engineering to lead the design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of a critical component of Infinia Data Intelligent Platform.  The ideal candidate will possess deep technical expertise in I/O path optimization, erasure coding, SPDK (Storage Performance Development Kit), and distributed locking mechanisms. As a leader, you will be both a strategic thinker and a hands-on architect, guiding your team to deliver high-performance, fault-tolerant, and secure data management services.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing engineering team focused on the storage I/O stack, erasure coding, SPDK integrations, and distributed concurrency control.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, code quality, and continuous learning, ensuring that best practices are consistently applied across the team.
• Set clear performance goals, conduct regular performance evaluations, and drive professional development initiatives for team members.
• Develop and maintain a robust technical roadmap for storage I/O path optimization, ensuring timely execution and alignment with the company’s strategic objectives.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Architecture, and other Engineering teams to define requirements, refine designs, and validate assumptions.
• Drive the creation and execution of strategic roadmaps, ensuring timely delivery and alignment with company goals.
• Partner with architects, engineers, and cross-functional teams to ensure the delivery of innovative, high-quality technical designs.
• Oversee the analysis, design, and implementation of next-generation I/O path optimizations to enhance system throughput, latency, and overall performance.
• Evaluate, select, and implement advanced erasure coding techniques to maximize data durability, reliability, and storage efficiency while minimizing overhead.
• Leverage SPDK (Storage Performance Development Kit) to streamline integration with underlying storage platforms and hardware accelerators, ensuring seamless support for heterogeneous environments.
• Drive the adoption of automated testing frameworks, continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and robust monitoring solutions.
• Ensure that deliverables meet stringent quality standards, and that code is well-documented, maintainable, and thoroughly tested.
• Collaborate with DevOps to ensure smooth deployment, scalability, and observability in production environments.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices, and evangelize these learnings within the organization.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of professional software development experience with a focus on large-scale storage systems development, particularly with I/O path optimization and advanced caching, buffering, and scheduling techniques.
• 5+ years of experience building, leading, and managing high-performance engineering teams.
• Experience implementing erasure coding solutions and a deep understanding of related algorithms and data redundancy techniques.
• Strong knowledge of SPDKs and their integration points within low-level storage stacks or distributed systems.
• Proven experience with distributed locking mechanisms, concurrency control, and consistency models in large-scale, distributed environments.
• Strong technical expertise in cluster management, I/O operations, and event-driven architectures.
• Deep understanding of scalable computing systems, software architectures, and algorithms.
• Proficiency in networking, distributed, asynchronous, and concurrent programming.
• Proficiency in C/C++; familiarity with relevant frameworks, debugging tools, and performance profiling techniques.
• Exceptional ability to lead teams, influence stakeholders, and communicate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Adept at solving complex technical challenges, driving innovation, and delivering high-quality solutions on tight schedules.
• Experience with full development lifecycle practices, including design, implementation, testing, and deployment.
• Proven track record of successfully leading teams to iteratively deliver high-quality software on time.

Preferred Skills:

• Expertise with cluster management tools and frameworks.
• In-depth knowledge of memory management, cache allocation, and bulk data processing.
• Familiarity with performance analysis tools and methodologies.
• Experience working in high-performance computing or data-intensive environments.

This role offers an exceptional opportunity to lead a high-impact engineering team at the core of DDN’s cutting-edge storage solutions. If you are passionate about solving complex technical challenges and driving innovation in high-performance systems, we encourage you to apply.

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.