5+ years in a technical engineering role with customer-facing experience
Deep knowledge of distributed systems and high-performance file systems
Strong understanding of advanced networking technologies like InfiniBand and 100GbE+
Advanced Linux systems architecture and kernel mechanics expertise
Proficiency in Python and C/C++ for enterprise-grade codebases
Experience with AI training environments or HPC clusters is a plus
Familiarity with containerized environments and AI/ML frameworks is highly desired
Responsibilities
Collaborate with global engineering teams to track updates and test new builds
Work alongside customer technical teams to optimize infrastructure and debug issues
Translate operational insights into actionable technical requirements for product development
Develop custom APIs and automation tools to enhance customer workflows
Advocate for customer needs to ensure they are prioritized in product planning
Benefits
Opportunity to work directly with strategic customers
Engagement in high-impact projects that influence product development
Collaborative work environment with global engineering teams
Chance to develop and enhance technical skills in a fast-evolving field
Flexibility with travel requirements, allowing for on-site customer interaction
Full Job Description
Description
About the Role
As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you are a core member of our engineering team embedded directly within our most strategic, large-scale customer environments. You will work side-by-side with customer architects, operators, and developers to deeply understand their unique scale challenges, solve complex infrastructure issues together, and translate real-world requirements into core product improvements. As the face of VAST Engineering on the ground, you own the technical success of strategic customer deployments from design through production operation.
What a Day in the Life Looks Like
Collaborate Globally: Start your day syncing with other members of the engineering team to track hotfixes, review roadmap updates, and pull down and test new builds.
Co-Engineer Solutions: Collaborate side-by-side with the customer's technical team to optimize infrastructure throughput, debug complex issues, and develop solutions for their largest workloads.
Drive Product Development: Weave real-world operational insights directly into the VAST development loop. Take the complex challenges you solve with customer engineers and distill them into precise, executable technical requirements for our core development teams to deliver.
Write Code: Develop custom API endpoints, create automation tools, or write scripts to unblock critical customer workflows. Address code review feedback from internal engineering teams on more complex changes.
Advocate: Act as a fierce internal advocate for your customer, ensuring their long-term technical needs are prioritized in the VAST product roadmap.
Requirements
Technical Expertise
Distributed Systems & Storage: Deep, foundational knowledge of distributed systems, high-performance file systems, storage protocols, and performance tuning.
Advanced Networking: Strong understanding of high-throughput fabrics, including InfiniBand, RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet), and 100GbE+ networking.
Linux Internals: Advanced knowledge of Linux systems architecture, memory management, and kernel mechanics.
Hands-on Development: Proficiency in Python and C/C++, with the ability to read, debug, and safely contribute to a complex, enterprise-grade codebase.
System Operations (Plus): Experience operating large-scale AI training environments or high-performance compute (HPC) clusters is highly desirable.
Modern AI Infrastructure (Plus): Experience working with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) and modern AI/ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow) is highly desired.
Professional Experience & Skills
Experience: 5+ years in a highly technical, engineering role such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Resident Engineer, Systems Software Engineer, or Senior Systems Engineer with a track record of customer-facing collaboration.
Composure under Pressure: A steady, analytical mindset when navigating complex technical challenges or high-stakes issues, with a focus on driving swift, logical resolutions.
Diplomacy & Translation: Exceptional communication skills-the ability to explain complex distributed systems limitations to a customer executive, and equally comfortable explaining a business deadline to a core developer.
Organizational Mastery: Highly organized and self-directed, with a proven ability to manage customer expectations and know when to set strategic boundaries to protect the product roadmap.
Continuous Learning Mindset: Possess an insatiable curiosity and a desire to master new technologies. You are someone who proactively dives into unfamiliar technical concepts and comes up to speed rapidly in a fast-evolving ecosystem.
Travel
Ability to travel or work on-site at customer locations as required (up to 25% travel).
About VAST Data
VAST Data is a data storage company that provides an all-flash storage platform for big data and artificial intelligence workloads. The platform enables businesses to store and analyze large amounts of data in real-time, and provides high performance and scalability. VAST Data was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in New York City.
