Infrastructure Engineer (GPU & Compute)

Lightning AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage

Generous paid time off

Flexible work environment

Job summary

Lightning AI in San Francisco is seeking a GPU & Compute Infrastructure Engineer to manage GPU-enabled systems and ensure efficiency across their infrastructure. The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of experience, focusing on image management, system diagnostics, and developing automation tools. This position offers a flexible work location, competitive compensation of $180,000 to $200,000 annually, and a comprehensive benefits package to support employee well-being.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in infrastructure engineering, systems engineering, or related roles.
• Hands-on experience with GPU-enabled systems and tools like NVIDIA DCGM.
• Familiarity with bare-metal provisioning and system bring-up workflows.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve systems for image management and validation.
• Run and maintain test clusters for system validation.
• Validate firmware, drivers, and OS images across systems.

Skills

Experience in infrastructure engineering

Hands-on experience with GPU-enabled systems

Proficiency in Python

Ability to debug complex issues

Tools

NVIDIA DCGM

Job description

New York, New York, United States; Remote; San Francisco, California, United States; Seattle, Washington, United States

Who We Are

Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with less friction.

Through our merger with Voltage Park, a neocloud and AI Factory, Lightning AI combines developer-first software with cost-efficient, large‑scale compute. Teams get the tools they need for experimentation, training, and production inference, with security, observability, and control built in.

We serve solo researchers, startups, and large enterprises. Lightning AI operates globally with offices in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and London, and is backed by Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.

Our Values

Move Fast: We act with speed and precision, breaking down big challenges into achievable steps.

Focus: We complete one goal at a time with care, collaborating as a team to deliver features with precision.

Balance: Sustained performance comes from rest and recovery. We ensure a healthy work‑life balance to keep you at your best.

Craftsmanship: Innovation through excellence. Every detail matters, and we take pride in mastering our craft.

Minimal: Simplicity drives our innovation. We eliminate complexity through discipline and focus on what truly matters.

What We're Looking For

Lightning AI is seeking a GPU & Compute Infrastructure Engineer to join our Infrastructure Engineering team.

In this role, you will own image management, system diagnostics, and validation across large‑scale bare‑metal compute infrastructure, with a particular focus on GPU‑enabled systems. You will work at the intersection of hardware, systems, and software—developing automation, improving reliability, and enabling efficient cluster bring‑up for AI/ML and HPC workloads.

You will play a key role in owning and evolving our image pipeline, running validation environments and test clusters, and supporting both system‑level and GPU hardware qualification. This role is critical to ensuring that our infrastructure is consistent, performant, and ready to support demanding AI workloads from day one.

We’re flexible on location for this team. This role can work hybrid out of one of our US‑based hubs (Seattle, NYC, or SF) or fully remote within the U.S., with occasional company and team offsites. We are not able to provide visa sponsorship for this position at this time.

What You'll Do

Systems, Image & Validation Infrastructure

• Own and evolve systems for image management, deployment, and validation across bare‑metal infrastructure
• Run and maintain test clusters used for system validation, diagnostics, and bring‑up
• Validate firmware, drivers, and OS images across compute and GPU‑enabled systems
• Support hardware qualification efforts for next‑generation platforms
• Own GPU diagnostics and validation workflows across large‑scale infrastructure
• Diagnose and resolve complex issues across GPUs, drivers, OS, and hardware layers
• Analyze system and GPU performance using tools such as NVIDIA DCGM
• Identify failure patterns and drive improvements in system stability and validation coverage

Automation & Tooling

• Build and maintain automation for provisioning, validation, and system bring‑up
• Develop Python‑based tools and workflows to improve efficiency and reduce manual operational overhead
• Improve the reliability, repeatability, and scalability of image pipelines and validation systems

Systems & Operations

• Manage and operate Linux‑based systems in production and validation environments
• Manage virtualization technology
• Support bare‑metal provisioning workflows, including PXE and image‑based systems
• Interface with hardware management systems (e.g., IPMI, Redfish) for monitoring and debugging

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Infrastructure, Hardware, and Data Center teams on system bring‑up and validation
• Collaborate with platform and ML teams to ensure systems meet workload requirements
• Contribute to best practices for provisioning, diagnostics, and lifecycle management of infrastructure

What You'll Need

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in infrastructure engineering, systems engineering, or related roles
• Hands‑on experience with GPU‑enabled systems and tools such as NVIDIA DCGM
• Familiarity with bare‑metal provisioning and system bring‑up workflows
• Proficiency in Python or similar scripting/programming languages for automation
• Ability to debug complex issues across hardware, OS, GPUs, and system software

Ideal Experience

• Experience with high‑performance interconnects (e.g., InfiniBand, NVLink)
• Experience with PXE boot environments, LiveCD systems, or image‑based provisioning workflows
• Experience with hardware management interfaces such as iDRAC, IPMI, or Redfish
• Data center operations experience, including working with physical hardware
• Experience supporting AI/ML or HPC workloads at scale
• Experience with GPU validation frameworks or large‑scale hardware qualification processes

Compensation

We are committed to offering competitive compensation that reflects the value each team member brings to our mission. Final offers are based on factors such as experience, skills, geographic location, and role expectations. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package for eligible roles includes a discretionary bonus, a meaningful equity component, and comprehensive benefits.

The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is:

$180,000 - $200,000 USD

Benefits and Perks

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support our employees’ health, well‑being, and long‑term success. Benefits may vary by location, team, and role.

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage (U.S.); Private medical and dental insurance (U.K.)
• Retirement and financial wellness support (U.S.); Pension contribution (U.K.)
• Generous paid time off, plus holidays
• Paid parental leave
• Wellness and work‑from‑home stipends
• Flexible work environment

At Lightning AI, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that diverse teams drive innovation and create better products. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We are dedicated to building a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to their fullest potential.