Junior Lab Admin

Nexthop AI; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 44,000 - 68,000; Full time

Job summary

Nexthop AI is seeking a Junior Lab Administrator to support onsite and offsite lab operations, ensuring equipment readiness and smooth daily activities. The role involves handling inventories, rack-and-stack tasks, and maintaining documentation for hardware deployments.

You will collaborate with engineering and IT teams, follow established standards, and contribute to continuous improvement of lab processes in a fast-paced startup environment.

Qualifications

• 0–3 years of experience in lab operations, data center support, IT infrastructure, or a related hands-on technical environment.
• Experience with inventory handling, asset tracking, and maintaining accurate physical infrastructure records.
• Hands-on familiarity with basic rack and stack work, cable management, and hardware installation best practices.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, especially in fast-moving environments with shared equipment and multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to follow standards, take direction well, and work independently on routine operational tasks while developing judgment for more complex work.
• Comfortable lifting and moving lab equipment and working in physical infrastructure environments for extended periods as needed.
• Good communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineering, IT, logistics, and operations teams.
• Strong sense of ownership, reliability, and willingness to learn from senior team members.
• Understanding of networking principles and technologies (e.g., TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, switching) is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Assist lab administrators with day-to-day operation of onsite and offsite lab and data center environments supporting software, test, POC, and hardware teams
• Receive, organize, label, track, and audit lab inventory including systems, networking gear, optics, cables, and related accessories
• Maintain accurate asset records, rack elevations, deployment notes, and basic topology documentation
• Perform regular inventory audits to ensure adequate component and part availability for operational readiness
• Perform rack and stack activities including mounting systems, installing rails, placing equipment, and verifying physical readiness
• Execute structured cabling tasks including routing, dressing, labeling, and tracing copper and fiber cables using established standards
• Support power-up, connectivity, and physical health checks during new hardware bring-up and lab changes
• Maintain lab spaces to a high standard for safety, cleanliness, organization, and operational readiness
• Coordinate with lab admins and engineering teams to prepare systems and rack space for upcoming projects and hardware deliveries
• Assist with shipping, receiving, parts handling, and vendor deliveries related to lab operations
• Follow documented processes for maintenance windows, access controls, and operational changes
• Contribute to improving operational processes, documentation quality, and lab organization over time

Skills

Lab ops

Inventory Mgmt

Cable management

Rack and stack

Networking basics

Communication

Physical ability

Attention to detail

Team collaboration

Job description

Junior Lab Administrator

Nexthop AI is a team of industry-leading professionals with deep hardware and software expertise spanning silicon, systems, network operations and cloud development, dedicated to building innovative, bleeding-edge solutions for large-scale AI deployments. The team culture thrives on collaboration, creativity and fun while delivering foundational technologies for next-generation AI infrastructure.

Job Responsibilities

• Assist lab administrators with day-to-day operation of onsite and offsite lab and data center environments supporting software, test, POC, and hardware teams
• Receive, organize, label, track, and audit lab inventory including systems, networking gear, optics, cables, and related accessories
• Maintain accurate asset records, rack elevations, deployment notes, and basic topology documentation
• Perform regular inventory audits to ensure adequate component and part availability for operational readiness
• Perform rack and stack activities including mounting systems, installing rails, placing equipment, and verifying physical readiness
• Execute structured cabling tasks including routing, dressing, labeling, and tracing copper and fiber cables using established standards
• Support power-up, connectivity, and physical health checks during new hardware bring-up and lab changes
• Maintain lab spaces to a high standard for safety, cleanliness, organization, and operational readiness
• Coordinate with lab admins and engineering teams to prepare systems and rack space for upcoming projects and hardware deliveries
• Assist with shipping, receiving, parts handling, and vendor deliveries related to lab operations
• Follow documented processes for maintenance windows, access controls, and operational changes
• Contribute to improving operational processes, documentation quality, and lab organization over time

Qualifications

We're seeking individuals who thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative startup and possess exceptional problem-solving and communication skills and a strong aptitude for taking initiative and learning. Additionally we value individuals who practice and instill user empathy. The following skills are essential for this role,

• 0–3 years of experience in lab operations, data center support, IT infrastructure, or a related hands-on technical environment; equivalent hands-on experience may also be considered
• Experience with inventory handling, asset tracking, and maintaining accurate physical infrastructure records
• Hands-on familiarity with basic rack and stack work, cable management, and hardware installation best practices
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, especially in fast-moving environments with shared equipment and multiple stakeholders
• Ability to follow standards, take direction well, and work independently on routine operational tasks while developing judgment for more complex work
• Comfortable lifting and moving lab equipment and working in physical infrastructure environments for extended periods as needed
• Good communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineering, IT, logistics, and operations teams
• Strong sense of ownership, reliability, and willingness to learn from senior team members
• Understanding of networking principles and technologies (e.g., TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, switching) is a plus.

Why Us

Our company bolsters all the advantages of working at a startup with the expertise of a seasoned team who have successfully built startups into thriving companies. Here you’ll have the unique opportunity to enable our growth and define datacenter standards, establish best practices from the ground up, and directly influence the direction of our infrastructure. If you are excited to implement cutting-edge labs that look like data centers and define operational best practice and be a part of shaping a burgeoning company, this is the place for you.