Blue Origin

Principal AI Compute Engineer, Project Sunrise Orbital Data Centers

Blue Origin • $218K — $305K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field, or equivalent experience.
  • 10+ years in hyperscale/cloud infrastructure, High-Performance Computing (HPC), AI infrastructure, or large-scale platform engineering.
  • Significant experience deploying and operating large GPU clusters.
  • Experience managing teams of 8+ engineers.
  • Deep knowledge of networking and vendor ecosystem.
  • Strong understanding of AI/HPC storage architectures.

Responsibilities

  • Own the AI compute architecture from inception to deployment.
  • Define the overall architecture for compute stacks including GPU/CPU and networking.
  • Establish requirements for AI workloads.
  • Define spacecraft network topology and compute requirements.
  • Build scalable networking and storage systems for the satellite constellation.
  • Establish strategies for testing and validating compute hardware.
  • Lead the compute payload engineering organization and team management.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance options available.
  • Paid parental leave and short/long-term disability support.
  • 401(k) with company match of up to 5%.
  • Stock options available for all regular employees.
  • Up to four weeks of paid time off and 14 company-paid holidays.
Full Job Description
Application close date:
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The team fosters innovation and drives engineering workflows of the future, shared solutions and standards, simplicity and lower costs, and manufacturable design.

Job Summary

Join Blue Origin as we build infrastructure in space for the benefit of Earth. We're developing a satellite constellation of orbital data centers to transform how compute infrastructure is deployed.

As the Principal Engineer of Compute, you will own the strategy, architecture, deployment, and operation of the compute package and overall network architecture on the spacecraft. This role requires you to grow the team and operate with a high degree of autonomy, while managing multidisciplinary effort while making critical design decisions. You are a novel thinker who will find innovative approaches to challenging engineering problems. You will lead both hardware for the compute and associated software stack.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
  • Own the end-to-end AI compute architecture from 0->1 and then taking it 1->n.
  • Define the architecture for the entire stack: GPU/CPU, networking, storage, orchestration, and the cloud-platform.
  • Establish infrastructure requirements for AI workloads.
  • Define spacecraft network topology, storage architecture, and overall compute related requirements.
  • Build networking and storage systems that can scale with the constellation.
  • Establish test, validation, and qualification strategies for compute hardware, integrating closely with spacecraft, software, mission, launch, reliability, product, operations, and finance teams.
  • Build and lead the compute payload engineering organization, including direct people management
  • Work with software teams to define workload orchestration and resource management.
  • Lead major supplier, component, and technology-partner decisions. This includes make/buy options and vertical integration.

Minimum Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
  • 10+ years of experience in one or more of the following areas: hyperscale/cloud infrastructure, High-Performance Computing (HPC), AI infrastructure, or large-scale platform engineering.
  • Significant experience deploying and operating large GPU clusters.
  • Experience leading, growing, and managing teams of 8+ engineers.
  • Deep networking knowledge including understanding of the vendor ecosystem.
  • Strong understanding of storage architectures for AI/HPC systems.
  • Experience developing and shipping complex compute or electronic hardware.
  • Experience in at least one relevant hardware domain such as embedded systems, avionics, HPC, FPGA/ASIC/GPU systems, or distributed/edge computing.
  • Strong systems-architecture and hardware/software co-design skills.
  • Experience commercializing data compute, AI, and cloud products.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience with data center design, build out, and operation.
  • Experience with software development lifecycles along with hardware/software co-design.
  • Space, aerospace, or other high-reliability compute-system experience.
  • Knowledge of radiation effects and mitigation approaches.
  • Experience optimizing around size, weight, and power (SWaP).
  • Familiarity with AI/ML accelerators or specialized edge-compute architectures.
  • Hands on experience building your own AI platforms.
  • Experience with mission- or safety-critical development and rigorous validation.
  • Strong cross-functional leadership spanning software, spacecraft, and systems engineering.
  • Familiarity or fluency with AI tools and their application for design optimization or analysis.


Base Pay Range for:
CO applicants is $218,520.00 - $305,926.95

Other site ranges may differ

Culture Statement

Don't meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Benefits
  • Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
  • Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
  • Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
  • Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.


About Blue Origin

Blue Origin is an aerospace company that develops rockets and spacecraft for commercial and government customers. The company's products include the New Shepard suborbital vehicle and the New Glenn orbital rocket. Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos and is headquartered in Kent, Washington.
Learn more about Blue Origin
Size
3,000 employees
Industry
Founded
2000

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