Director, Deployment Engineering — Systems Engineering

Nscale; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 353,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Flexible paid time off

Parental leave

Retirement plan participation

Job summary

Nscale is seeking a Director of Deployment Engineering in Seattle to lead the systems engineering function that underpins our AI infrastructure. You will guide a high-performing team across systems, compute operations, and deployment validation to deliver reliable, scalable platforms at pace.

You will establish standards and tooling, drive multi-quarter initiatives, and ensure production readiness. This role requires deep Linux, virtualization, Kubernetes, and IaC expertise plus strong

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of systems engineering, compute operations, infrastructure, or engineering-management experience.
• Experience in a large cloud provider, hyperscale data center, or similarly complex infrastructure environment.
• Experience leading systems or compute operations teams in a high-availability production environment.
• Strong knowledge of Linux/Unix systems administration, OS-level tuning, server architecture, and GPU hardware.
• Experience with virtualization, containerization, and distributed systems, including Kubernetes and Docker.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration-management tools such as Ansible, Terraform, Puppet, or Chef.
• Strong scripting, automation, and data center systems-design experience.
• Familiarity with system architecture, data synchronization, fault tolerance, state management, and distributed-system reliability.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale the systems engineering team responsible for core platform systems, deployment readiness, and compute operations.
• Define and deliver multi-quarter systems engineering initiatives that improve deployment velocity, platform reliability, validation quality, and operational performance.
• Establish systems validation standards for servers, GPUs, networking, storage, and supporting infrastructure before production acceptance.
• Lead GPU burn-in and validation testing at scale, including thermal, power, stress, and performance qualification.
• Partner with infrastructure, network engineering, deployment, product, and operations leaders to balance long-term platform architecture with immediate business needs.
• Turn ambiguous, high-impact technical challenges into clear plans, priorities, milestones, and accountable execution.
• Drive alignment across interdependent teams working on compute platforms, internal infrastructure, developer tooling, and operational systems.
• Raise the bar for engineering quality, automation, observability, documentation, and operational excellence.
• Build scalable approaches for systems monitoring, telemetry, incident learning, and continuous platform improvement.
• Travel up to 50% to support deployments, site readiness, vendor collaboration, and operational execution.

Skills

Automation scripting

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Written and verbal communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Ansible

Terraform

Puppet

Chef

Job description

The role

Nscale is looking for a Director of Deployment Engineering to lead the systems engineering function responsible for deploying, validating, and operating the core compute platforms that underpin our AI infrastructure.

You will lead a high-performing engineering team across systems, compute operations, and deployment validation. This role combines technical leadership with operational execution: defining the standards, tooling, and processes that ensure infrastructure is reliable, scalable, production-ready, and delivered at pace.

What you'll do

• Lead and scale the systems engineering team responsible for core platform systems, deployment readiness, and compute operations.
• Define and deliver multi-quarter systems engineering initiatives that improve deployment velocity, platform reliability, validation quality, and operational performance.
• Establish systems validation standards for servers, GPUs, networking, storage, and supporting infrastructure before production acceptance.
• Lead GPU burn-in and validation testing at scale, including thermal, power, stress, and performance qualification.
• Partner with infrastructure, network engineering, deployment, product, and operations leaders to balance long-term platform architecture with immediate business needs.
• Turn ambiguous, high-impact technical challenges into clear plans, priorities, milestones, and accountable execution.
• Drive alignment across interdependent teams working on compute platforms, internal infrastructure, developer tooling, and operational systems.
• Raise the bar for engineering quality, automation, observability, documentation, and operational excellence.
• Build scalable approaches for systems monitoring, telemetry, incident learning, and continuous platform improvement.
• Travel up to 50% to support deployments, site readiness, vendor collaboration, and operational execution.

What you'll bring

• A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of systems engineering, compute operations, infrastructure, or engineering-management experience.
• Experience in a large cloud provider, hyperscale data center, or similarly complex infrastructure environment.
• Experience leading systems or compute operations teams in a high-availability production environment.
• Strong knowledge of Linux/Unix systems administration, OS-level tuning, server architecture, and GPU hardware.
• Experience with virtualization, containerization, and distributed systems, including Kubernetes and Docker.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration-management tools such as Ansible, Terraform, Puppet, or Chef.
• Strong scripting, automation, and data center systems-design experience.
• Familiarity with system architecture, data synchronization, fault tolerance, state management, and distributed-system reliability.
• Experience with enterprise storage, networking, compute, monitoring, observability, or telemetry platforms.
• Excellent judgment, organizational skills, and written and verbal communication.
• The ability to influence technical direction, engineering priorities, and cross-functional decisions.

What success looks like

• Nscale's compute platforms are consistently deployed, validated, and accepted into production at a high standard.
• Systems engineering has clear technical standards, automation, and operational ownership across the deployment lifecycle.
• Platform reliability, validation quality, and delivery velocity improve measurably over time.
• Engineering, operations, and deployment teams make faster decisions with clearer data and accountability.

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

Salary Range

$240,000—$353,000 USD

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