Sr. Staff Engineer, Lustre

DDN
North Carolina +1 more
Remote

Who this role is best for

Aimed at senior systems engineers with deep LustreFS expertise and comfort with AI tools, working remotely in North Carolina or Texas on distributed storage and Linux-based systems.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 10+ years in distributed storage and Linux kernel engineering, especially LustreFS subsystems.
    — “10+ years of experience in systems software, distributed systems, storage, Linux kernel or filesystem engineering.”
  • Individuals who have led or mentored technical efforts in large-scale parallel storage environments.
    — “Experience mentoring junior engineers or leading focused technical efforts within a subsystem.”
  • Engineers who have used AI in debugging, code reviews, or documentation to improve efficiency and quality.
    — “Comfort using AI tools to accelerate debugging, code reviews, triage, documentation and early-stage design ideation.”

Things to consider

  • The role demands strong collaboration across multiple engineering and support teams.
    — “Collaborates effectively across engineering, QE, support and release teams.”

How to stand out

  • Highlight specific contributions to LustreFS subsystems like llite, MDS/MDT, or LNet in your resume.
    — “Design, develop and debug LustreFS features, fixes and enhancements across relevant subsystems such as llite, MDS/MDT, OSS/OST, LDLM and LNet.”
  • Demonstrate experience in debugging multi-layer issues involving client, server, network, and backend storage.
    — “Ability to debug and resolve issues spanning multiple layers including client, server, network and backend storage.”
  • Showcase your use of AI in accelerating triage, code comprehension, or documentation.
    — “Use AI-assisted tools where appropriate to speed up issue triage, summarize logs, improve code understanding and capture reusable lessons learned.”
  • Emphasize your work on performance tuning and reliability improvements in large-scale deployments.
    — “Contribute to performance tuning, failure analysis and reliability improvements for large-scale Lustre deployments.”
  • Demonstrate your ability to improve diagnostic data quality and test coverage for high-risk scenarios.
    — “Work closely with QE and support to reproduce issues, improve diagnostic data quality and increase coverage for high-risk failure scenarios.”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Design, develop and debug LustreFS features, fixes and enhancements across relevant subsystems
Typical background
10+ years of experience in systems software, distributed systems, storage, Linux kernel or filesystem engineering

Skills & requirements

Required

Distributed StorageLinux SystemsLustrefs DevelopmentDebuggingPerformance TuningReliability ImprovementsCode ReviewsDesign ReviewsSubsystem DiscussionsTesting

Preferred

HPCAI InfrastructureLarge-scale Parallel StorageZFSLdiskfsNvme-backed StorageObservabilityPerformance ToolingTest PlansReproducer FrameworksDiagnostic AutomationAI Tools

Stack & domain

Distributed StorageLinux-based Systems EngineeringLustrefsLustre SubsystemsDebuggingPerformance TuningReliability ImprovementsCode ReviewsDesign ReviewsSubsystem DiscussionsTestingOperational ReadinessLnetHigh-performance TransportsRDMAInfinibandRoceTcp-based Storage NetworkingLinux KernelFilesystem SemanticsNetworkingPerformance AnalysisAi-assisted ToolsCode ComprehensionFeature DesignZFSLdiskfsNvme-backed StorageObservabilityPerformance ToolingTest PlansReproducer FrameworksRunbooksDiagnostic AutomationCollaborationMulti-taskingPrioritizingOrganizedCommunicationAttention To DetailPositive AttitudeTeamworkLeadershipProblem SolvingCritical ThinkingTime ManagementMentoringTechnical LeadershipStorageLinuxDistributed Systems

About the role

Original posting from DDN via Ashby

WE ARE SEEKING A STAFF ENGINEER WITH 10+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN DISTRIBUTED STORAGE AND LINUX-BASED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING. THIS IS A HANDS-ON SENIOR TECHNICAL ROLE FOCUSED ON DESIGN, DEBUGGING, PERFORMANCE, AND OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE ACROSS LUSTREFS AND ADJACENT STACK COMPONENTS. THE IDEAL CANDIDATE BRINGS STRONG EXPERTISE IN ONE OR MORE LUSTRE SUBSYSTEMS, CAN INDEPENDENTLY DRIVE COMPLEX INVESTIGATIONS, AND COLLABORATES EFFECTIVELY ACROSS ENGINEERING, QE, SUPPORT AND RELEASE TEAMS. ENGINEERS WHO ARE COMFORTABLE USING AI TO ACCELERATE TRIAGE, DEBUGGING, CODE COMPREHENSION AND NEW FEATURE DESIGN WILL BE ESPECIALLY VALUABLE.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Design, develop and debug LustreFS features, fixes and enhancements across relevant subsystems such as llite, MDS/MDT, OSS/OST, LDLM and LNet.
  • Investigate customer and scale-related defects, drive root-cause analysis and implement high-quality fixes with strong attention to correctness and maintainability.
  • Contribute to performance tuning, failure analysis and reliability improvements for large-scale Lustre deployments.
  • Participate actively in code reviews, design reviews and subsystem discussions, bringing rigor to testing and operational readiness.
  • Work closely with QE and support to reproduce issues, improve diagnostic data quality and increase coverage for high-risk failure scenarios.
  • Help document subsystem behavior, debugging approaches, known failure patterns and operational best practices.
  • Use AI-assisted tools where appropriate to speed up issue triage, summarize logs, improve code understanding and capture reusable lessons learned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • 10+ years of experience in systems software, distributed systems, storage, Linux kernel or filesystem engineering.
  • Strong experience in LustreFS development, support or performance engineering with depth in at least one major subsystem.
  • Strong C programming and Linux systems debugging skills.
  • Working knowledge of Linux kernel internals, filesystem semantics, networking and performance analysis.
  • Experience with LNet and/or high-performance transports such as RDMA, InfiniBand, RoCE or TCP-based storage networking.
  • Ability to debug and resolve issues spanning multiple layers including client, server, network and backend storage.
  • Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work across functions in a fast-moving engineering environment.

PREFERRED SKILLS

  • Experience in HPC, AI infrastructure or large-scale parallel storage environments.
  • Exposure to metadata-heavy and throughput-heavy workload characterization and tuning.
  • Familiarity with ZFS, ldiskfs, NVMe-backed storage and related observability / performance tooling.
  • Experience creating test plans, reproducer frameworks, runbooks or diagnostic automation.
  • Comfort using AI tools to accelerate debugging, code reviews, triage, documentation and early-stage design ideation.
  • Experience mentoring junior engineers or leading focused technical efforts within a subsystem.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

  • Hands-on development and debugging of LustreFS defects, performance issues and subsystem enhancements.
  • Customer-facing and scale-related issue investigation across llite, metadata, object storage, LNet and transport layers.
  • Collaborative design and implementation of reliability, observability and serviceability improvements.
  • Reviewing and validating fixes through targeted tests, failure injection, log analysis and performance characterization.
  • Using AI-assisted workflows to accelerate triage, debug loops, code understanding and documentation quality.
  • Contributing to team redundancy by strengthening documentation, code review quality and subsystem knowledge sharing.

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

This role is central to building durable engineering redundancy in LustreFS: expanding deep subsystem ownership, reducing concentration risk, and accelerating next-generation delivery through strong engineering fundamentals and AI-enabled execution.

Source: DDN careers (Ashby)

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