Senior Staff Engineer, Lustre

DDN

Senior Staff Engineer for LustreFS at DataDirect Networks involved in AI data storage innovation. Leading complex technical projects and mentoring engineering teams for AI and HPC systems.

Posted 6/22/2026full-timeRemote • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $215,000 - $265,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Distributed SystemsLinux

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Provide deep technical leadership across LustreFS subsystems including llite, MDS/MDT, OSS/OST, LDLM, recovery and LNet.
Own complex root-cause analysis for difficult customer, scale and production issues across kernel, filesystem, network and transport layers.
Lead design and implementation of new features, reliability improvements, scale enhancements and performance optimizations in LustreFS.
Drive architectural reviews for kernel-space and user-space changes with strong attention to correctness, backward compatibility and operability.
Define debugging and observability strategies for complex distributed failure scenarios including failover, recovery storms, lock contention and transport degradation.
Partner with principal engineers, support, QE, DevOps and release teams to improve product quality, test depth and release confidence.
Mentor senior and mid-level engineers; create structured learning paths, review standards and subsystem ownership models to build redundancy.
Promote use of AI-assisted workflows for issue triage, log analysis, code review assistance, knowledge capture and design acceleration with appropriate engineering guardrails.

Requirements

What you’ll need

15+ years of experience in distributed systems, filesystems, Linux kernel development or storage infrastructure engineering.
Strong hands-on expertise in LustreFS internals and production operations, including one or more of: metadata services, object storage services, client/llite, locking, recovery or LNet.
Strong C systems programming skills and deep Linux debugging experience using tools such as gdb, crash, perf, ftrace, eBPF, systemtap and core analysis.
Strong understanding of Linux kernel concurrency, memory management, I/O paths, networking and performance tuning.
Experience with high-performance networking and transports such as InfiniBand, RDMA, RoCE and/or TCP at scale.
Proven ability to diagnose complex cross-layer issues spanning kernel, storage, networking and distributed coordination.
Experience leading design discussions, code reviews and subsystem-level technical decisions.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to guide senior technical audiences and influence cross-functional teams.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Health insurance
401(k) matching
Flexible work hours
Paid time off
Remote work options

ATS Keywords

✓ Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools

LustreFSC programmingLinux kernel developmentdebuggingmetadata servicesobject storage serviceshigh-performance networkingperformance tuningconcurrencyI/O paths

Soft Skills

technical leadershipmentoringcommunicationinfluencingcollaborationproblem-solvingdesign discussionscode reviewsstructured learningcross-functional guidance