Infrastructure Engineer

Fab2; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 117,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision

Paid Time Off

Stocked Office Kitchen

Job summary

fab2 is building a hands-on, hardware-centered startup. We design and manufacture the tools and components for cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication, with a focus on minimal, hardware-close infrastructure.

We seek exceptional engineers who love building real systems near the metal, and who can take complex backend projects from concept to production. The Infrastructure & Site Reliability Engineer will own all aspects of our on-prem backend, using bare-metal Linux, systemd, and single-file

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent demonstrated exceptional skill in software engineering.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience in backend infrastructure or Site Reliability Engineering, successfully and autonomously taking complex systems from concept to production.
• Deep proficiency in at least one statically-typed, compiled language, with a strong command of systems fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement light-weight, performant, and reliable software infrastructure to power a semiconductor fab.
• Procure, deploy and manage our fleet of on-prem servers, virtual machines, and single-board computers running on semiconductor fabrication equipment.
• Deploy and manage backend services, e.g., consul, vault, grafana, victoria-metrics, alertmanager, redpanda, vector, gitea, postgres
• Design and setup low level networking components, e.g., service discovery, DNS, reverse proxies, TLS, S3 compatible storage, VPNs
• Scale our observability platform: Build systems to ingest and display both traditional system metrics as well as high frequency telemetry from semiconductor fabrication equipment.
• Design and implement cross-site networking, replication and backups.
• Automate OS image creation and deployment and software build and deployment systems.
• Develop best practices and tools for security, authentication, authorization, and secrets management
• Help build our in-house infrastructure-as-code tool.

Job description

The fab2 team can build anything. We design all the hardware and software needed to make chips and we make the fabs, tools, and components ourselves.

We're looking for exceptional, hands-on people who can iterate to the limits of what's possible.

fab2 was founded by Sam Zeloof and Jim Keller. Sam is best known for making chips in his garage, and Jim has been a leader in the semiconductor industry for the past 40 years.

About the Team

The Infrastructure team is the backbone of fab2. We build the internal tools, databases, deployments, and networking infrastructure that empower our software engineers. Our ultimate goal is complete command and control everything in the fab—ensuring our systems remain relentlessly reliable, scalable, and secure as the company grows.

About the role

As an Infrastructure & Site Reliability Engineer, you will design, build, deploy, and manage the on-prem backend infrastructure that powers our small, fast semiconductor fab. This is a broad, hands-on role where you will own all aspects of our backend services from the ground up.

Our philosophy toward infrastructure is minimal, understandable, and close to the hardware. You won’t find much Docker, cloud services, or Kubernetes here. Instead, you will work primarily with bare-metal Linux, systemd, and single-file binaries written in Rust, Go, and occasionally Python.

We are open to a range of experience levels—from exceptional early-career engineers to staff-level builders. What matters most is that you have built real things, you love getting close to the metal, and you are excited by performance engineering. You will know you are successful when you have built a highly performant, rock-solid, bare-metal infrastructure that allows our engineering team to rapidly and reliably operate the fab without unnecessary abstraction.

A portfolio or Github is generally required to apply: show us the things you’ve actually built! For us, a strong portfolio demonstrates your engineering excellence, curiosity, and a love for taking ideas from concept to reality. This could be a backend service, homelab setup script, etc.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement light-weight, performant, and reliable software infrastructure to power a semiconductor fab.
• Procure, deploy and manage our fleet of on-prem servers, virtual machines, and single-board computers running on semiconductor fabrication equipment.
• Deploy and manage backend services, e.g., consul, vault, grafana, victoria-metrics, alertmanager, redpanda, vector, gitea, postgres
• Design and setup low level networking components, e.g., service discovery, DNS, reverse proxies, TLS, S3 compatible storage, VPNs
• Scale our observability platform: Build systems to ingest and display both traditional system metrics as well as high frequency telemetry from semiconductor fabrication equipment.
• Design and implement cross-site networking, replication and backups.
• Automate OS image creation and deployment and software build and deployment systems.
• Develop best practices and tools for security, authentication, authorization, and secrets management
• Help build our in-house infrastructure-as-code tool.

Required Experience

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent demonstrated exceptional skill in software engineering.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience in backend infrastructure or Site Reliability Engineering, successfully and autonomously taking complex systems from concept to production.
• Deep proficiency in at least one statically-typed, compiled language, with a strong command of systems fundamentals.

Nice-to-haves

• Hands-on programming experience in Rust or Go.
• Direct experience designing and managing on-premise, bare-metal infrastructure without relying on heavy cloud abstractions.

We’re an early-stage hardware startup with solid funding, world-class advisors, and a lab/office.

Compensation

fab2 is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The annual salary range for this role is $125,000 – $195,000. Compensation is determined based on your qualifications and experience. Our total compensation package also includes generous equity in fab2

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Generous Paid Time Off inclusive of Holidays and Sick Time
• Life and Disability Insurance
• Weekly Learning & Development opportunities
• Commuter Benefits including Parking and Late Night Uber rides from the office
• Lunches daily, Dinners 3x per week, Stocked Office Kitchen with Snacks and Spindrifts

We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or other legally protected statuses.

Export Control Analysis

This position involves access to technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Any job offer made will be contingent upon the applicant’s capacity to serve in compliance with U.S. export controls.