Principal Engineer, OpenStack

As a global leader in cybersecurity, CrowdStrike protects the people, processes and technologies that drive modern organizations. Since 2011, our mission hasn’t changed — we’re here to stop breaches, and we’ve redefined modern security with the world’s most advanced AI-native platform. We work on large scale distributed systems, processing almost 3 trillion events per day and this traffic is growing daily. Our customers span all industries, and they count on CrowdStrike to keep their businesses running, their communities safe and their lives moving forward. We’re also a mission-driven company. We cultivate a culture that gives every CrowdStriker both the flexibility and autonomy to own their careers. We’re always looking to add talented CrowdStrikers to the team who have limitless passion, a relentless focus on innovation and a fanatical commitment to our customers, our community and each other. Ready to join a mission that matters? The future of cybersecurity starts with you.

About the Role:

CrowdStrike is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical strategy and execution of our most transformative infrastructure initiative: the design, architecture, and implementation of OpenStack as a unified platform to innovate in our environments. This role will set the technical direction for our entire data center strategy, impacting over 100,000 compute nodes across a global deployment

As the highest-ranking individual contributor in this domain, you will serve as the architect and technical authority for our on-premises infrastructure transformation, bridging virtualization, storage, and bare metal orchestration disciplines. You will provide strategic technical leadership across multiple engineering teams while remaining deeply hands-on in solving our most complex technical challenges.

What You'll Do:

• Define and drive the multi-year technical roadmap for OpenStack deployment, replacing existing infrastructure across our global data center footprint (100,000+ nodes)

• Architect end-to-end solutions spanning compute (Nova), storage (Cinder, Swift integration with MinIO and VAST), networking (Neutron), and bare metal provisioning (Ironic)

• Establish technical standards and best practices for infrastructure-as-code, automation frameworks, and operational excellence

• Lead architectural reviews and provide decisive technical guidance on the most complex infrastructure challenges

• Drive technology evaluation and make critical build-vs-buy decisions for platform components

• Serve as the definitive technical authority on OpenStack, virtualization, and data center infrastructure strategy

• Partner extensively with Virtualization, Object Storage, Systems Engineering, SRE, Hardware Development, and Software Development teams to ensure cohesive platform integration

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering leadership to align technical strategy with business objectives

• Interface with vendor partners (Canonical, ODM/OEMs, storage vendors) on technology roadmaps and integration strategies

• Bridge technical and operational requirements across Development, TechOps, Security, and Compliance teams

• Design and implement critical components of the OpenStack platform, including automation tooling, integration layers, and operational frameworks

• Develop reference architectures for compute, storage, and network topologies supporting large-scale deployments

What You'll Need:

• 15+ years of engineering experience in production infrastructure roles

• 10+ years of hands-on experience with large-scale virtualization platforms in production environments

• Deep expertise with OpenStack components (Nova, Neutron, Ironic, Cinder, Keystone, Horizon) at scale (100,000+ nodes)

• Proven experience migrating from legacy virtualization platforms to OpenStack or similar cloud platforms

• Production operations experience managing mission-critical 24x7 environments at massive scale

• Experience leading large-scale technical initiatives spanning multiple teams and organizations

• Expert-level knowledge of hypervisor technologies (KVM/QEMU, VMware ESXi, libvirt) and bare metal provisioning systems (Canonical MaaS, Ironic, Foreman)

• Strong understanding of data center design including power/cooling, rack topology, and physical infrastructure

• Deep knowledge of storage architectures including SAN, NAS, distributed storage (Ceph), and object storage at scale (100+ PB)

• Extensive experience with software-defined networking, overlay networks, and network virtualization

• Expert-level Linux engineering skills with deep knowledge of kernel optimization, performance tuning, and troubleshooting at scale

• Expert-level infrastructure-as-code experience with configuration management and orchestration tools

• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction and drive consensus across stakeholders

• Exceptional communication skills with ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences

Tech Stack / What You'll Use:

• OpenStack (Nova, Neutron, Ironic, Cinder, Keystone, Horizon)

• KVM/QEMU, libvirt, VMware ESXi

• Canonical MaaS

• Python (Pandas, NumPy, SQLAlchemy, Flask/FastAPI)

• Go (Golang)

• Bash/Shell scripting

• PowerShell

• Ansible, Chef, Terraform, Salt, Puppet

• Docker, Kubernetes

• Software-defined networking

• S3-compatible object storage

• Ceph (distributed storage)

• SAN, NAS, NFS, iSCSI

• Block and object storage at 100+ PB scale

• Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Zabbix, OpenTracing

Bonus Points:

• Direct experience leading OpenStack migrations or deployments at hyper-scale

• Active contributions to OpenStack or other open-source infrastructure projects

• Experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, OCI, GCP) and hybrid cloud architectures

• Familiarity with OpenStack Kolla, TripleO, or other deployment frameworks

• Experience with AI/ML infrastructure requirements and GPU computing platforms

• Knowledge of composable infrastructure and disaggregated server architectures

• Experience with object storage at exabyte scale

• Background in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, or security-focused infrastructure

• Deep experience with compliance automation and audit frameworks

• Security architecture and zero-trust networking experience

#HTF

Benefits of Working at CrowdStrike:

• Remote-friendly and flexible work culture

• Market leader in compensation and equity awards

• Comprehensive physical and mental wellness programs

• Competitive vacation and holidays for recharge

• Paid parental and adoption leaves

• Professional development opportunities for all employees regardless of level or role

• Employee Networks, geographic neighborhood groups, and volunteer opportunities to build connections

• Vibrant office culture with world class amenities

• Great Place to Work Certified™ across the globe

CrowdStrike is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging where everyone is valued for who they are and empowered to succeed. We support veterans and individuals with disabilities through our affirmative action program.

Right to Work

For detailed information about the U.S. benefits package, please click here.