Chief Hardware and Systems Architect

Pop-Up Talent; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Pop-Up Talent is hiring a Chief Hardware & Systems Architect to set the technical vision for AI server platforms. You will own the architecture across compute, accelerators, memory, storage, networking, firmware, and thermal design, coordinating with an ASEAN team for manufacturing readiness.

You will define roadmaps from first product through future generations, establish engineering standards, and advise leadership on technical direction and industry trends.

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing high-performance servers or data-center systems.
• Hands-on experience with NVIDIA AI platforms and GPUs.
• Experience taking hardware from architecture through manufacturing and deployment.
• Familiarity with Linux, virtualization, and containerization.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end system architecture for AI servers and platforms.
• Lead decisions across GPUs, CPUs, memory, storage, networking and power/cooling.
• Set performance, reliability, security, and cost targets for platforms.
• Collaborate with ASEAN-based teams on implementation, validation and manufacturing readiness.

Skills

High-performance hardware design

NVIDIA GPUs expertise

System architecture

Linux

Project leadership

Tools

DGX/HGX/MGX familiarity

NVLink/NVSwitch

PCIe

Job description

Location: San Jose, CA / Silicon Valley (Hybrid or On-site)

The company is building the infrastructure layer for sovereign data markets: high-performance AI servers designed to give organizations control, security, and performance for their most valuable data. Backed by $50M in initial investment, we are moving rapidly toward delivering our first server platforms in 2027.

We are seeking a Chief Hardware & Systems Architect to set the technical vision and lead the end-to-end architecture of the company's AI server platforms. This role owns the decisions that connect hardware, firmware, systems software, networking, thermal and power design, performance, security, and deployment into reliable, production-ready infrastructure.

As the company's senior technical authority for platform architecture, you will define the roadmap from first product through future generations, establish engineering standards, and help build the team and technical partnerships required to bring our systems to market.

This role is based at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. The company's hardware and firmware engineering organization is based in ASEAN (Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan); from Silicon Valley, you will set the architecture, engineering standards, and technical direction that the ASEAN engineering team executes against, working directly with that team's leads on implementation, validation, and manufacturing readiness.

THE ROLE:

• You will own the end-to-end technical architecture for the company’s AI server platforms, spanning compute, accelerators, memory, storage, networking, firmware, thermal design, system software, and deployment. You will translate demanding AI workloads and sovereign-data requirements into scalable, manufacturable server designs
• This is a hands-on, high-leverage role for someone who understands how high-performance systems behave in the real world—not just on a diagram. You will work closely with hardware, firmware, software, operations, manufacturing, and customer teams to make critical architecture decisions and deliver production-ready platforms

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Define the system architecture for the company’s AI servers, from first-generation products through future platform roadmaps
• Design high-performance GPU-accelerated systems for AI training, inference, and data-intensive workloads
• Lead architectural decisions across NVIDIA GPUs and interconnects, CPUs, memory, NVMe storage, networking, power, cooling, and rack-level integration
• Establish performance, reliability, availability, serviceability, security, and cost targets for server platforms
• Develop reference architectures for sovereign deployments, including on-premises, private-cloud, and isolated operating environments
• Partner with firmware and software teams on platform enablement, GPU orchestration, observability, cluster management, and performance optimization
• Work with suppliers, manufacturing partners, and engineering teams to validate component choices and manage technical risk
• Build test and validation strategies for performance, thermals, power, interoperability, and system reliability
• Advise executive leadership on technical roadmap, product tradeoffs, customer requirements, and emerging infrastructure trends
• Direct the ASEAN-based engineering organization's execution of your architecture — setting technical standards, reviewing designs, and unblocking implementation across Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan teams

WHAT YOU BRING:

• At least 10+ years of experience designing, architecting, or bringing to market high-performance servers, accelerated computing platforms, or large-scale data-center systems
• Deep practical experience with NVIDIA AI platforms, including NVIDIA GPUs, CUDA ecosystem considerations, NVLink/NVSwitch, InfiniBand and/or high-speed Ethernet
• Demonstrated experience with server hardware architecture: CPU selection, memory topology, PCIe, GPU density, storage, networking, power delivery, and thermal design
• Experience taking complex hardware systems from architecture through validation, manufacturing, and field deployment
• Strong understanding of AI infrastructure workloads, including training, inference, distributed computing, storage-intensive pipelines, and performance bottlenecks
• Familiarity with Linux, virtualization or containerization, GPU scheduling, cluster orchestration, and fleet management
• Ability to balance performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, supply-chain constraints, and time to market
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to align technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience directing distributed or offshore engineering teams — ideally in ASEAN — including remote design reviews, technical mentorship, and accountability for execution quality across time zones

ESPECIALLY VALUABLE:

• Experience with NVIDIA DGX, HGX, MGX, SuperPOD, or equivalent accelerated computing platforms
• Experience with liquid cooling, high-density racks, power-constrained deployments, or next-generation data-center design
• Knowledge of secure computing, confidential computing, data residency, regulated industries, or sovereign cloud environments
• Experience working with ODMs, contract manufacturers, component suppliers, and hardware qualification partners
• A builder's mindset: comfortable operating in an early-stage company where priorities move quickly and ownership is broad

WHY US?

• This is an opportunity to shape a foundational technology company at an unusually consequential moment. The company has the capital, ambition, and runway to build server platforms for an emerging sovereign AI economy—and you will have direct influence over the systems that define it
• If you want to architect high-performance AI infrastructure from the ground up, work deeply with NVIDIA technologies, and help bring production systems to market in 2027, we'd like to hear from you

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we are an organization that values diversity. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, including minorities and persons with disabilities.