Director of Engineering, Flex Compute

Crusoe

$285K — $335K *
Energy & Utilities
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years in software engineering, including 5+ years leading teams
  • Experience with distributed control planes and orchestration tools like Kubernetes
  • Proven track record in safety-critical systems with designed-for worst-case scenarios
  • Knowledge of data-center power systems and GPU power management
  • Familiarity with energy markets and demand response mechanisms
  • Strong judgment in build-vs-buy decisions with incomplete data
  • Experience in building and managing engineering teams that must ensure high availability.

Responsibilities

  • Own curtailment orchestration and grid-signal processing
  • Lead the implementation of a utility-validated pilot with high accuracy
  • Develop dynamic power management systems for GPU oversubscription
  • Create workload-aware GPU power estimation models
  • Design systems for safety and reliability under power-loss conditions
  • Ensure integration of energy systems with site battery and generation backups
  • Collaborate with engineering teams on interconnection and curtailment design
  • Integrate cloud control across Kubernetes and Slurm platforms
  • Make decisions regarding vendor relationships and power-management stack selections
  • Build and evolve the engineering team in line with fleet growth.

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation and equity packages
  • Restricted Stock Units
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Paid parental leave and time off
  • Employer contributions to HSA accounts
  • 401(k) with company match up to 4%
  • Professional development and tuition reimbursement programs
  • Mental health and wellness support
  • Daily meal allowances
  • Global travel insurance
Full Job Description
About the Role:

Power, not silicon, is the binding constraint on AI infrastructure. Crusoe is vertically integrated from electrons to tokens; generation, batteries, controls, and the cloud orchestration layer which means we can credibly commit flexible load to utilities and deliver on it. No other AI cloud can.

Flexible Compute is the system that makes that real: reducing data-center power draw on demand quickly, reliably, verifiably - while protecting the workloads that matter most. It gets us megawatts sooner, earns more per megawatt, and rides through grid-stress events without breaking SLAs.

You'll operate at the seam between one of the industry's fastest-growing energy footprints and the software that controls it. This is a utility-facing, safety-critical control system, and a ground-up build. You'll define the architecture, ship the first production system, and build the team from scratch.

What You'll Be Working On:
  • Own the curtailment orchestration and decision layer: grid-signal ingestion, staged shedding, per-SKU power capping without ever silently dropping a paid workload
  • Land a utility-validated pilot: fast ramp to setpoint, tight accuracy, high-fidelity telemetry, and the test harness that proves it before we commit to a utility
  • Deliver dynamic power management for oversubscription - more GPUs per megawatt with no customer-visible impact
  • Build fast, workload-aware GPU power estimation, validated against fleet telemetry : the engine behind shed forecasting, oversubscription admission, and power planning for new silicon
  • Design for safety: authenticated signal ingress, bounded blast radius, fail-safe defaults, manual backstops
  • Own graceful ride-through of power-loss and grid-stress events, integrated with on-site battery and generation backstops
  • Partner deeply with Data Center Engineering (mechanical, electrical, controls) and Energy teams on interconnection commitments, curtailment program design, and BESS/generation integration.
  • Integrate with our cloud control plane across Kubernetes and Slurm fleets : one control plane, not two
  • Make build-vs-leverage calls across vendor power-management stacks and grid integration layers
  • Hire and lead the team from the ground up, keeping headcount sublinear to fleet growth through automation


What You'll Bring to the Team:
  • 12+ years in software engineering, including 5+ leading engineering teams, ideally taking a system from 01 to production scale
  • Deep experience with distributed control planes, orchestration, or fleet automation (e.g., Temporal, Kubernetes, Slurm)
  • A track record with safety-critical or physically-actuating systems, where a misfire has a bounded, designed-for worst case
  • Working knowledge of data-center power systems: utility interconnection, switchgear/UPS/BESS, rack/PDU distribution, power telemetry, and GPU power management
  • Experience with energy markets or grid programs demand response, curtailable-load tariffs, ISO/RTO market signals (e.g., ERCOT, PJM, CAISO) or demonstrated speed to fluency in them
  • Strong build-vs-buy judgment and comfort deciding with incomplete data
  • A record of hiring senior engineers and running healthy operations for systems that must never fail silently


Bonus Points
  • GPU cluster operations or AI cloud infrastructure experience
  • Prior work in the energy sector: power generation, storage, utility software, or grid-scale controls
  • Background in GPU power/performance modeling, DVFS, or turning research prototypes into production systems
  • Experience with checkpoint/preemption for large training jobs or power-aware scheduling


Benefits:
  • Competitive compensation and equity packages
  • Restricted Stock Units
  • Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
  • Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
  • Employer contributions to HSA account
  • Paid parental leave
  • Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
  • Professional development & tuition reimbursement
  • Mental health & wellness support
  • Commuter benefits (parking & transit)
  • Cell phone stipend
  • 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
  • Volunteer time off
  • Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
  • Daily meals allowance
  • Additional perks & programs specific to location


Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $285,000 - $335,000 + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicant's knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

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