Product Lead, Data Center

Meter; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Meter seeks a senior engineering leader to define and scale its first data center switching line. You will set technical and market direction, partnering with hardware, firmware, and software leadership to deliver a cohesive control plane, APIs, and observability.

You will review designs, influence firmware and backend development, and guide tradeoffs in port density and thermal limits. This role leads a growing team as the data center line expands.

Qualifications

• Experience building and shipping the firmware or software side of a data center networking platform.
• Ideally, prior engineering experience.
• Experience with control plane design, API design, and observability in real deployments.
• Knowledge of ASIC capabilities, port speed, power, and thermal limits.
• Ability to work directly with firmware and backend engineers, including reviewing designs, reading code, and debugging.
• Ability to align hardware, firmware, and software teams without formal authority.
• Knowledge of data center networking research.
• Recognized reputation in the data center networking community.

Responsibilities

• Define how Meter builds and sells its first data center switching line.
• Set technical and market direction for a new business line.
• Partner with hardware, firmware, and software engineering leadership.
• Work with firmware and backend engineers on control plane design, API design, and observability.
• Review designs, read code, and debug alongside engineers.
• Weigh in on software-related hardware tradeoffs, including port density and thermal limits affecting firmware behavior.
• Build the hiring plan and assemble the engineering team for control plane, APIs, optics, and observability.
• Talk with prospective data center customers, including enterprises building GPU clusters.
• Monitor data center networking research and share relevant developments with engineering teams.
• Grow into leading a larger product and engineering organization as the data center line expands.

Skills

Firmware Development

Control Plane Design

API Design

Data Center Networking

Observability

Leadership

Communication

Job description

• Define how Meter builds and sells its first data center switching line
• Set technical and market direction for a new business line
• Partner with hardware, firmware, and software engineering leadership
• Work with firmware and backend engineers on control plane design, API design, and observability
• Review designs, read code, and debug alongside engineers
• Weigh in on software-related hardware tradeoffs, including port density and thermal limits affecting firmware behavior
• Build the hiring plan and assemble the engineering team for control plane, APIs, optics, and observability
• Talk with prospective data center customers, including enterprises building GPU clusters
• Monitor data center networking research and share relevant developments with engineering teams
• Grow into leading a larger product and engineering organization as the data center line expands

Requirements

• Experience building and shipping the firmware or software side of a data center networking platform
• Ideally, prior engineering experience
• Experience with control plane design, API design, and observability in real deployments
• Knowledge of ASIC capabilities, port speed, power, and thermal limits
• Ability to work directly with firmware and backend engineers, including reviewing designs, reading code, and debugging
• Ability to align hardware, firmware, and software teams without formal authority
• Knowledge of data center networking research
• Recognized reputation in the data center networking community

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in building and shipping firmware or software for data center networking platforms, with a strong focus on control plane design, API design, and observability. Proven ability to collaborate across hardware, firmware, and software teams while leading engineering efforts in a dynamic environment.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Firmware Development
• Control Plane Design
• API Design
• Data Center Networking
• Observability

Hard Skills

• Firmware Development
• Control Plane Design
• API Design
• Debugging
• ASIC Knowledge
• Port Density Management
• Thermal Limit Analysis
• Software-Hardware Tradeoffs
• Data Center Networking Research
• Real Deployment Experience

Soft Skills

• Collaboration
• Leadership
• Communication

Industry Keywords

• Data Center Networking
• GPU Clusters
• Engineering Team Assembly
• Market Direction
• Technical Direction