Intelligent Data Infrastructure Engineer

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Retirement/Pension Plans

Paid Time Off

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Restricted stock units (RSU)

Job summary

NetApp, Inc. seeks an Intelligent Data Infrastructure Engineer to design, develop, and optimize core software powering next‑generation data infrastructure for enterprise and AI workloads.

You will work on scalable, high‑performance infrastructure across on‑prem, cloud, and AI environments, with emphasis on C/C++, Python, and AI‑driven automation. The role requires deep OS and distributed systems knowledge, Linux proficiency, and collaboration with cross‑functional teams to deliver end‑to‑end

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering or related field.
• 12+ years of experience developing systems software, operating systems, storage platforms, or distributed infrastructure.
• Expert-level programming in C/C++, Python.
• Strong understanding of operating systems, memory management, multithreading, networking, distributed systems, and performance optimization.
• Experience developing software on Linux and strong debugging skills.

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 focus on scalability and resiliency.
• Build and optimize data movement, replication, protection, and lifecycle management.
• Design infrastructure supporting AI/ML pipelines, LLM training, inference, and RAG workloads.
• Collaborate with hardware, platform, networking, and cloud teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Optimize system performance through profiling, benchmarking and low-level optimization.
• Leverage AI agents to improve software development, testing, debugging, documentation, and automation.
• Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews and design discussions.
• Develop automated testing, observability, and reliability frameworks.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Distributed systems

Linux

Multithreading

Memory management

Performance optimization

Operating systems

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in CS/CE or related field

Tools

Rust

Go

Kubernetes

Containers

Cloud-native architectures

Job description

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 agentsand 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.

If you're ready to innovate, rise to the challenge, and own every moment - make your next move your best one.

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.