Forward Deployed Engineer (AI & HPC Infrastructure)

Overview

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC

“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence.

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management.

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage.

Job Description

DDN is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to serve as a trusted technical partner for a small number of strategic customers running some of the world’s most complex, data‑intensive environments. This is a highly impactful, customer‑embedded role at the intersection of AI infrastructure, distributed systems, and real‑world production operations.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will work directly with customer engineering and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams to design, deploy, optimize, and operate large‑scale storage and data platforms. You will act as the voice of the customer inside DDN, influencing product direction, defining best practices, and ensuring long‑term customer success.

This role is remote‑based with travel required for customer engagements and internal collaboration. You will focus on a limited number of accounts, potentially across globally distributed locations.

What Makes This Role Unique

• Deep customer ownership: you are responsible for outcomes, not tickets
• Direct influence on product roadmap through real‑world customer feedback
• Exposure to production‑scale AI/ML, GPU‑accelerated, and HPC environments
• Opportunity to shape reference architectures, operational standards, and deployment patterns used across DDN customers

Responsibilities

• Solid understanding of distributed storage architectures, networking fundamentals, and data movement at scale
• Proven ability to work directly with customers, communicate clearly, and build trusted technical relationships
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with a solutions‑oriented mindset
• Ability to work effectively across cross‑functional teams including Engineering, Product Management, Support, and Field Services

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in a senior technical role supporting complex, customer‑facing production systems
• Deep experience administering and operating Lustre or similar parallel file systems in large‑scale environments
• Strong Linux systems knowledge, including performance tuning and troubleshooting
• Solid understanding of distributed storage architectures, networking fundamentals, and data movement at scale
• Proven ability to work directly with customers, communicate clearly, and build trusted technical relationships
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with a solutions‑oriented mindset
• Ability to work effectively across cross‑functional teams including Engineering, Product Management, Support, and Field Services

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with additional parallel file systems such as IBM Spectrum Scale or StorNext
• Experience developing and debugging automation using shell scripting, Python, Bash, or similar languages
• Strong understanding of networking technologies including InfiniBand, Ethernet, TCP/IP, and routing
• Experience with object storage and S3‑compatible systems
• Familiarity with NAS and data transfer protocols (NFS, SMB/CIFS, SFTP, rsync, etc.)
• Experience with authentication and identity systems (LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos, OAuth2/OIDC, SAML)
• Experience using network diagnostics and troubleshooting tools (tcpdump, Wireshark, LLDP, etc.)
• Exposure to AI/ML infrastructure operations, GPU‑accelerated environments, or large‑scale data pipelines
• Experience working in globally distributed or remote teams

Additional Information

• Participation in a reasonable on‑call rotation for escalations involving strategic customers may be required
• Occasional physical tasks related to hardware setup may be required, with appropriate tools and support
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for assigned strategic customers, ensuring successful deployment, operation, and ongoing optimization of DDN solutions
• Partner closely with customer SRE, infrastructure, and operations teams to diagnose and resolve complex production issues across storage, networking, and distributed systems
• Design, document, and promote operational best practices, architectures, and processes
• Translate customer requirements into clear engineering RFEs and collaborate with Product Management and Engineering to influence priorities and roadmap decisions
• Drive operational efficiency through automation, tooling, documentation, and repeatable deployment workflows
• Develop and deploy scripts and tools to support customer environments (DevOps-focused)
• Monitor system health, operational status, and project progress; communicate risks, status, and recommendations clearly to both customers and internal stakeholders
• Collaborate with pre‑sales and field engineering teams to design and validate solutions for complex customer challenges
• Lead and participate in regular technical and operational meetings with customer and DDN teams
• Support AI/ML, data‑intensive, and HPC workloads running at scale in on‑prem, hybrid, and cloud‑adjacent environments

DDN

DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities:

Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives.

Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable.

Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful.

Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.

DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.