Intelligent Data Infrastructure Engineer

NetApp; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 196,000 - 293,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work environment

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

NetApp seeks an Intelligent Data Infrastructure Engineer to design, develop, and optimize core software powering next‑generation data infrastructure for enterprise and AI workloads. Deep expertise in C systems programming, OS internals, distributed systems, and AI-enabled workflows is required.

The role focuses on scalable, high‑performance infrastructure that manages, protects, and accelerates data across on‑premises, cloud, and AI environments, with collaboration across cross‑functional teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 12+ years of experience developing systems software, operating systems, storage platforms, or distributed infrastructure.
• Expert-level programming skills in C/C++, Python

Responsibilities

• Design and develop core infrastructure software for intelligent data platforms, including storage, data management, caching, metadata services, and distributed systems.
• Develop high-performance, reliable software in C, C++, Python with an emphasis on scalability, efficiency, and resiliency.
• Build and optimize data movement, replication, protection, and lifecycle management capabilities.
• Design infrastructure that supports AI/ML pipelines, large language model (LLM) training, inference, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workloads.
• Collaborate with hardware, platform, networking, and cloud engineering teams to deliver end-to-end infrastructure solutions.
• Optimize system performance through profiling, benchmarking, and low-level software optimization.
• Leverage modern AI agents to improve software development, testing, debugging, documentation, and operational automation.
• Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, and technical design discussions.
• Develop automated testing, observability, and reliability frameworks.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Linux development

Distributed systems

Performance optimization

Multithreading

Memory management

Networking fundamentals

Debugging and profiling

Systems thinking

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Containers

GitHub Copilot / AI coding assistants

Job description

Own Every Moment at NetApp

At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure—delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud.

Own Every Moment at NetApp

At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure—delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud.

Ready to innovate and contribute to our path to $10B? Here, you'll collaborate with passionate teams, tackle real-world challenges, and see your impact in how customers transform and grow. If you're ready to bring curiosity, creativity, and drive to every moment, NetApp is where your journey begins. Join teams that innovate to elevate, drive results, and excel together across every function.

Job Summary

We are seeking an Intelligent Data Infrastructure Engineer to design, develop, and optimize the core software that powers next-generation data infrastructure for enterprise and AI workloads. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in systems programming using C, a strong understanding of operating system internals, distributed systems, and data infrastructure, and is familiar with modern AI agents and AI-native development workflows.

This role focuses on building scalable, high-performance infrastructure that manages, protects, and accelerates data across on-premises, cloud, and AI environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop core infrastructure software for intelligent data platforms, including storage, data management, caching, metadata services, and distributed systems.
• Develop high-performance, reliable software in C, C++, Python with an emphasis on scalability, efficiency, and resiliency.
• Build and optimize data movement, replication, protection, and lifecycle management capabilities.
• Design infrastructure that supports AI/ML pipelines, large language model (LLM) training, inference, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workloads.
• Collaborate with hardware, platform, networking, and cloud engineering teams to deliver end-to-end infrastructure solutions.
• Optimize system performance through profiling, benchmarking, and low-level software optimization.
• Leverage modern AI agents to improve software development, testing, debugging, documentation, and operational automation.
• Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, and technical design discussions.
• Develop automated testing, observability, and reliability frameworks.

Skills And Qualifications

Required Skills

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 12+ years of experience developing systems software, operating systems, storage platforms, or distributed infrastructure.
• Expert-level programming skills in C/C++, Python
• Strong understanding of:
  • Operating systems
  • Memory management
  • Multithreading and concurrency
  • Networking fundamentals
  • Distributed systems
  • Performance optimization
• Experience developing software on Linux.
• Strong debugging and performance analysis skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with storage systems, file systems, object storage, distributed data platforms, or cloud infrastructure.
• Knowledge of AI infrastructure and data pipelines supporting GPU clusters and large-scale AI workloads.
• Experience with Rust, Go.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, containers, and cloud-native architectures.
• Experience using AI coding assistants and autonomous AI agents (such as GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, or similar tools) to accelerate software development, testing, and debugging.

Desired Skills

• Strong systems thinking and software architecture skills.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Passion for building high-performance infrastructure software.
• Effective communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to work across cross-functional engineering teams.

Compensation

The target salary range for this position is 196,350 - 292,600 USD. The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off, various Leave options, Performance-Based Incentives, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s), with all offerings subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. Benefits may vary by country and region, and further details will be provided as part of the recruitment process.

At NetApp, we embrace a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. This means that most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.

Why You'll Thrive at NetApp

At NetApp, you won't wait for the perfect moment—you'll make it. The early planning, the extra thought, the bold idea that turns good into great: That's how our people operate and how we continue to push the boundaries of data infrastructure.

NetApp is the trusted partner for organizations transforming data into opportunity. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, we empower customers to run everything from traditional workloads to enterprise AI with unmatched performance, resilience, and security.

Our culture

We celebrate mold breakers, bold thinkers, and problem solvers. We reward initiative, impact, and ownership. We provide flexibility so you can balance professional ambition with your personal life. Here, differences are not just welcomed—they drive everything we do.

AI Disclosure

For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection. These tools support—rather than replace—human decision-making.