Principal Infrastructure Architect

DigitalOcean

$184K — $231K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in server/storage/infrastructure architecture or related field with successful scale designs.
  • Deep expertise in server and storage hardware platforms including commodity CPUs and advanced GPUs.
  • Experience driving AI/ML hardware roadmaps with a focus on future-proof designs.
  • Knowledge of cutting-edge hardware approaches like CXL memory pooling and computational storage.
  • Proven leadership in proof-of-concept initiatives transitioning to global standards.
  • Strong ability to collaborate with technical, business, and vendor teams.
  • Excellent communication and mentorship skills.

Responsibilities

  • Define and own hardware architectures for next-gen compute environments.
  • Act as primary technical stakeholder for infrastructure technologies with product teams.
  • Lead hardware selection and qualification processes.
  • Evangelize emerging tech to senior leadership for product strategy.
  • Architect end-to-end server designs to support diverse workloads.
  • Develop storage topologies for varying performance and capacity needs.
  • Lead initiatives for proof-of-concept tech and scale deployments.
  • Mentor engineers and promote a culture of technical excellence.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model offering flexibility.
  • Opportunities for attendance at industry conferences.
  • Participation in external presentations and technical papers.
  • Access to a culture that emphasizes inclusivity and impact.
Full Job Description
Drivethe future of DigitalOcean - design our Compute, GPU, Storage, and Infrastructure Platforms

This role is a Principal Infrastructure Architect on our Hardware Engineering team, this individual owns the forward looking roadmap for our CPU, GPU,Storage, and Infrastructure hardware platforms. Looking forward as the industry evolves, , from Air to Liquid to 800VDC rack scale systems. Collaborating with peers on the Infrastructure and Networking teams who own the roadmaps for datacenters and networking at DO.
What You'll Be Doing:
  • Defining and owning DigitalOcean's hardware architectures for next-generation compute environments across our CPU, GPU, Storage, and Infrastructure Server SKU products, navigating shifts in technology, networking topologies, and AI/ML requirements.
  • Serving as DigitalOcean's primary technical stakeholder for infrastructure technologies partnering with SMEs in the Product and Hardware Engineering organization.
  • Providing leadership and guidance as a primary stakeholder in the hardware selection and qualification process.
  • Evangelizing emerging technical concepts to senior leadership to inform product and business strategies.
  • Architecting end-to-end server designs with vendors and partner teams to support a wide variety of CPU, GPU, and other emerging workloads.
  • Architecting end-to-end storage topologies with vendor teams to support diverse workloads across performance, capacity, and archival tiers, moving from direct-attached to disaggregated and software-defined storage.
  • Leading proof-of-concept (PoC) initiatives for emerging infrastructure technologies and transitioning successful pilots into global deployment standards.
  • Mentor engineers at all levels and contribute to a culture of technical excellence, inclusivity, and impact.
  • Represent DigitalOcean in the broader community attending conferences, contributing to papers and presentations.
What We'll Expect From You:
  • 10+ years of experience in server architecture, storage architecture, infrastructure engineering, or a related field, with a track record of owning and deploying designs at scale.
  • Deep expertise in server and storage hardware platforms with strong working knowledge of compute technologies across the spectrum-from commodity CPU servers to rack scale GPU and xPU platforms.
  • Working experience of driving AI/ML hardware roadmaps and the ability to translate evolving silicon, accelerator, memory, and storage trends into future-proofed platform designs.
  • Knowledge of emerging and non-traditional hardware approaches such as CXL memory pooling, DPUs/SmartNICs, disaggregated storage, and computational storage.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead proof-of-concept initiatives and scale successful pilots into global deployment standards.
  • Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, partnering with technical and business teams along with external vendors and partners.
  • Excellent communication and leadership skills, including mentoring engineers and representing the company externally at conferences and through technical papers.
Compensation Range:
  • $184,000 - $231,000

*This is a hybrid role



#LI-Hybrid

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