Principal Technical Program Manager (TPM) - AI Infrastructure Operations

Nscale; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Annual reviews

Job summary

Nscale in Seattle is seeking a Technical Program Manager to lead AI infrastructure operations, ensuring stability, uptime, and scalable GPU/InfiniBand systems.

You will align engineering execution with business goals, drive cross-functional programs with SRE, data center, and hardware teams, and deliver against aggressive SLAs.

Qualifications

• 5+ years leading large-scale infrastructure programs.
• Strong data center, Linux, and networking foundations.
• Expert in Agile/Scrum; PMP preferred; strong communication.
• Experience defining and improving uptime, availability, MTTR, SLIs.
• Thrives in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

• Own planning, execution, and delivery of strategic operational programs.
• Establish KPIs for Availability and Uptime; create dashboards.
• Optimize workflows across FleetOps, NetworkOps, and SRE.
• Coordinate with Hardware, Compute, Network, DC Ops, and vendors.
• Translate capacity plans into delivery roadmaps; ensure go-live readiness.
• Identify risks and develop mitigations; communicate impacts.

Skills

Program management

Data center infrastructure

Linux

Networking concepts

Agile methodologies

Scrum

PMP certification

Metrics-driven

Communication skills

SRE familiarity

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in technical field

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Automation tooling

Job description

As a Technical Program Manager (TPM) for AI Infrastructure Operations, you will be the operational backbone of our high-scale, high-performance AI and High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment. You will be responsible for driving complex, cross-functional programs that ensure the stability, availability, and growth of our cutting-edge GPU fleet and Infiniband network fabrics. This role requires a blend of deep technical understanding, rigorous program management, and a relentless focus on delivering against key operational metrics (SLAs, Uptime, Availability). You will bridge the gap between engineering execution and strategic business goals, directly impacting our ability to serve customer workloads at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Program Leadership: Own the planning, execution, and delivery of strategic operational programs, including new data center AI infrastructure build-outs, large-scale fleet software/firmware rollouts, and the implementation of new operational tooling (in partnership with SRE).
• Metrics and Reporting: Establish, track, and drive accountability against critical infrastructure KPIs, specifically focusing on Availability (Target 97.5%) and Uptime (Target 99%). Develop clear dashboards and communication rhythms to provide leadership with real-time visibility into operational health, program status, and risk.
• Process Engineering: Analyze and optimize operational workflows across Fleet Operations, Network Operations, and SRE teams. Drive the standardization of incident management, change management, and postmortem processes to reduce toil and improve Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR).
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Serve as the primary liaison between engineering teams (Hardware, Compute Platform, Network), Data Center Operations, and external vendors (GPU, Network hardware). Proactively identify and resolve dependencies, risks, and roadblocks.
• Capacity and Readiness: Partner with Data Science/Operation Programs to translate capacity planning models into actionable infrastructure delivery and readiness roadmaps. Ensure that new hardware (GPUs, NICs, switches) is successfully integrated into the operational control plane and meets go-live criteria.
• Risk Management: Proactively identify technical, schedule, and resource risks related to AI infrastructure scaling and stability. Develop mitigation strategies and communicate impacts clearly to stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 5+ years of experience in a Technical Program Management role, successfully driving large-scale, complex infrastructure or software engineering programs.
• Technical Domain Knowledge: Strong foundational understanding of data center infrastructure, distributed systems, Linux, and networking concepts.
• Program Management Rigor: Proven expertise in modern program management methodologies (Agile, Scrum, PMP certification preferred). Exceptional organizational, communication, and presentation skills.
• Metrics-Driven Approach: Demonstrable experience in defining, tracking, and improving system performance based on operational metrics (e.g., Uptime, Availability, MTTR, SLOs/SLIs).
• Execution in Ambiguity: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, managing multiple priorities and adapting to evolving technical requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience managing programs related to data center infrastructure build-outs and hardware commissioning processes.
• Specific domain knowledge of AI/HPC infrastructure, including NVIDIA GPUs, InfiniBand/RDMA networks, and the challenges of tightly-coupled systems.
• Experience in a hyperscale or public cloud environment supporting 24/7 mission-critical services.
• Familiarity with SRE principles, automation tooling, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for infrastructure.
• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in a technical field (Computer Science, Engineering, etc.) or equivalent practical experience.

What We Can Offer You

• Highly competitive package (base + equity) with reviews every 12 months.
• Join the fastest-growing tech startup, your chance to push boundaries, collaborate with brilliant minds, and make your mark on cutting-edge AI.
• Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by trying new things, leading, challenging the status quo, and owning your impact, always with our full support.

For information on how Nscale handles candidate personal data, please see our Employee & Candidate Privacy Notice: Here.