Performance Engineer (Cloud Data Plane Engineering)

NetApp; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 148,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

NetApp seeks a performance-focused engineer to design, develop, analyze, and optimize cloud software and performance capabilities for cloud storage services and distributed systems. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to model, measure, analyze, and improve performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency while balancing quality, cost, and time-to-market.

The ideal candidate is systems-focused, analytical, and creative, with a track record of delivering measurable cloud-scale

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of performance engineering experience.
• Knowledge of performance analysis, modeling, benchmarking, and workload characterization.
• Understanding of performance tradeoffs in multi-tenant elastic cloud environments (latency, throughput, cost, reliability).
• Experience applying AI/ML techniques to performance engineering and workloads.
• Strong OS foundations, data structures, and systems programming in C is desirable.
• Proficiency in scripting/automation (Python, shell; Perl acceptable) and familiarity with notebooks (Jupyter).

Responsibilities

• Design and run performance benchmarks and workloads; analyze results and share findings.
• Develop AI-assisted performance engineering tools to accelerate bottleneck analysis and prioritization.
• Evaluate designs and prototype performance improvements across cloud services.
• Collect customer experience signals and usage patterns to inform recommendations.

Skills

Performance analysis

Modeling techniques

Benchmarking

Workload characterization

AI/ML for performance

C programming

OS fundamentals

Scripting/automation

Education

Bachelor/Master/PhD in EE or CS

Tools

Python

Shell

Jupyter

Perl (acceptable)

Job description

Job Summary

Design, develop, analyze, and optimize cloud software and performance capabilities for cloud storage services and distributed systems. In this role you will collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to model, measure, analyze, and improve the performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency of cloud platforms-ensuring customer and market requirements are met while balancing quality, cost, and time-to-market. The ideal candidate is systems-focused, analytical and creative, and driven to deliver measurable performance improvements at cloud scale.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute performance benchmarks/workloads; measure, analyze, interpret, and socialize results to identify improvement opportunities.
• Apply AI-assisted performance engineering techniques and develop tools (e.g., performance analysis, automated regression triage, and ML-based capacity planning) to accelerate bottleneck analysis and guide optimization priorities.
• Evaluate design alternatives and prototype performance enhancements across cloud services and distributed components.
• Collect and analyze customer experience signals and usage patterns; prepare findings and recommendations for engineering and management.

Job Requirements

• A minimum of 4 years of experience is required.
• Knowledge of performance analysis, modeling techniques, benchmarking, and workload characterization.
• Understanding of performance tradeoffs when designing for multi-tenant, elastic cloud environments (latency, throughput, cost, and reliability).
• Hands-on experience applying AI/ML techniques to performance engineeringUnderstanding of AI/ML workloads and their impact on cloud storage performance.
• Strong foundations in operating systems, data structures, and standard programming practices; systems programming in C is highly desirable.
• Proficiency with scripting and automation (Python, shell; Perl acceptable) and comfort working with notebooks (e.g., Jupyter).

Education

• A Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, or PhD Degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science; or equivalent experience is required.

Compensation

The target salary range for this position is 147,900 - 220,000 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.

• Health Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Retirement or Pension Plans
• Paid Time Off
• various Leave options
• Performance-Based Incentives
• employee stock purchase plan
• restricted stocks (RSU's)

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

We are all about helping customers turn challenges into business opportunity. It starts with bringing new thinking to age-old problems, like how to use data most effectively to run better - but also to innovate. We tailor our approach to the customer's unique needs with a combination of fresh thinking and proven approaches.

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.

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.