Infrastructure Engineer (Storage)

Lightningai; San Francisco, New York (CA, NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Equity

401(k) match

Unlimited PTO

Winter break

Parental leave

Learning allowance

Wellness stipend

Sabbatical

Hybrid work

Office meals

Job summary

Lightning AI is seeking a Storage Infrastructure Engineer to build and operate storage systems powering large-scale AI/ML training and inference. You’ll manage the data plane, scale distributed storage across bare-metal infrastructure, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure performance and reliability.

You will work from one of our hubs (NYC, SF, Seattle, or London) with a minimum of 2 in-office days weekly and participate in team and company offsites.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in infrastructure engineering or related roles.
• Hands-on experience operating distributed storage systems (VAST, Ceph, or similar).
• Strong Linux systems experience in production environments.
• Proficiency in Python or similar scripting languages for automation.
• Experience with bare-metal infrastructure and hardware-oriented systems.
• Ability to debug complex issues across storage, OS, hardware, and networking boundaries.
• Experience with storage networking protocols (NFS or similar).
• Experience with capacity planning, monitoring, and performance tuning.

Responsibilities

• Operate and scale distributed storage systems (VAST, Ceph, etc.).
• Improve performance, reliability, and efficiency of storage for AI/ML workloads.
• Troubleshoot storage and data path issues across hardware and software layers.
• Optimize storage to support high-throughput, low-latency workloads.

Skills

Infrastructure experience

Distributed storage

Linux production

Python scripting

Bare-metal hardware

Cross-domain debugging

Storage networking (NFS)

Job description

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.

The Way We Work

The people who thrive here are builders who move fast, communicate openly, take ownership, and continuously improve themselves, their teams, and our company. Here's what that looks like in practice:

• Move with Urgency: We move quickly, make thoughtful decisions, and keep momentum. We value action over perfection and learn by shipping.
• Take Ownership: We own outcomes, not just our individual work. We make decisions that move the company forward and follow through.
• Communicate Openly: We communicate directly, seek to understand, and create clarity for others. Honest conversations help us move faster together.
• Build Great Teams: We lead by example, empower others, and create healthy teams where people can do their best work.
• Raise the Bar: We're always improving ourselves. We learn from feedback, consistently challenge ourselves to grow, and focus on the work that matters most.
• Think Long-Term: We design for what's next. We create scalable systems, simplify complexity, and use AI and automation to amplify our impact.

What We’re Looking For

Lightning AI is seeking aStorage Infrastructure Engineer to join our Infrastructure Engineering team.

In this role, you will focus on building and operating the storage systems that power large-scale AI/ML training, inference, and HPC workloads. You will work at the intersection of software, hardware, and operations—developing automation, improving reliability, and scaling distributed storage systems across our bare-metal infrastructure.

You will help own the data plane of our storage infrastructure, supporting high-throughput, low-latency data access for some of the most demanding AI workloads. You’ll play a key role in managing and evolving our storage stack (including VAST and S3-compatible systems like Ceph), ensuring performance, reliability, and efficiency at scale.

This role is based in one of our hubs (NYC, SF, Seattle, or London), with a minimum of 2 in-office days per week and occasional team and company offsites. We are not able to provide visa sponsorship for this position at this time.

What You’ll Do

Storage Systems & Infrastructure

• Operate and scale distributed storage systems, including VAST and S3-compatible object storage (e.g., Ceph)
• Improve performance, reliability, and efficiency of storage systems supporting large-scale AI/ML workloads
• Troubleshoot complex storage and data path issues across hardware and software layers
• Optimize storage performance to support high-throughput, low-latency AI training and inference workloads

Automation & Tooling

• Build and maintain automation for provisioning, managing, and monitoring storage infrastructure
• Develop Python-based tools and workflows to reduce manual operational overhead
• Improve lifecycle management of storage clusters, from deployment through maintenance and scaling

Systems & Operations

• Manage and operate Linux-based systems in production, including bare-metal environments
• Partner with infrastructure and data center teams on hardware bring-up, upgrades, and issue resolution
• Support capacity planning, utilization tracking, and forecasting for storage systems
• Leverage monitoring and telemetry to diagnose issues and improve system performance and reliability

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Infrastructure Engineering, Network Engineering, and Platform teams to integrate storage into the broader platform
• Contribute to design discussions around new infrastructure deployments and scaling strategies
• Help define best practices for operating storage systems in high-performance computing environments

What You’ll Need

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in infrastructure engineering, systems engineering, or related roles
• Hands-on experience operating distributed storage systems (e.g., VAST, Ceph, or similar)
• Strong Linux systems experience in production environments
• Proficiency in Python or similar scripting/programming languages for automation
• Experience working with bare-metal infrastructure and hardware-oriented systems
• Ability to debug complex issues across system boundaries (storage, OS, hardware, networking)
• Experience with storage networking protocols (e.g., NFS or similar)
• Experience with capacity planning, monitoring, and performance tuning

Ideal Experience

• Experience with VAST storage systems in production environments
• Experience operating S3-compatible object storage at scale
• Data center operations experience, including working with physical hardware
• Familiarity with AI/ML or HPC workloads and their storage requirements
• Background in high-performance or low-latency distributed systems
• Familiarity with high-performance data transfer technologies (e.g., RDMA, GPU Direct Storage)
• Experience supporting GPU-based workloads or large-scale compute clusters

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.

$180,000—$220,000 USD

Benefits and Perks

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support our employees’ health, well-being, and long-term success:

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and eligible dependents.
• Meaningful Equity: RSUs that give employees a stake in the company's long-term success.
• Retirement Savings: 401(k) matching (U.S.) and pension contributions (U.K.).
• Flexible Time Off: Unlimited PTO, company holidays, and floating holidays to support work-life balance.
• Company-Wide Winter Break: Two weeks of company closure each winter to disconnect and recharge.
• Paid Parental & Family Leave: Paid leave to support you and your family through life's important moments.
• Professional Development: Annual learning and development allowance to support your professional growth.
• Wellness Benefits: Wellness and work-from-home stipends to support your physical and mental well‑being.
• Sabbatical Program: Four weeks of paid sabbatical leave after four years of service.
• Flexible Work: Flexible schedules and a hybrid work model for our office-based teams.
• In-Office Meals: Complimentary meals at our office hubs.

Benefits may vary by location, team, and role.

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.

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