Senior AI Data Path & Storage Architect

DDN; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

DDN is hiring a Senior Staff Engineer to lead hands-on development of AI data-path storage for real-time inference. You will architect high-performance data movement pipelines across GPU, CPU and storage, and collaborate with architects to deliver scalable, low-latency systems.

Experience building production-grade AI infrastructure, plus deep knowledge of distributed storage and GPU I/O, is essential. The role involves mentoring engineers and driving cross-functional initiatives to optimize

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in storage systems, distributed systems, or performance engineering.
• Proven track record of architecting and delivering large-scale, high-performance infrastructure systems.
• Deep expertise in distributed storage architectures (object storage, scalable file systems, or cloud-native storage platforms).
• Strong understanding of Linux I/O stack, filesystem internals, and storage protocols.
• Extensive hands-on experience with NVMe, SSD optimization, and high-performance storage environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of high-performance data movement pipelines using NVIDIA NIXL across GPU, CPU, and storage tiers.
• Architect and drive integration of DDN Infinia with GPU-accelerated inference platforms for large-scale, real-time AI workloads.
• Own end-to-end optimization of I/O paths between GPU memory and storage using NVMe, GPUDirect Storage, RDMA, and related technologies.
• Define and implement multi-tier storage architectures (NVMe, SSD, object storage) optimized for latency and throughput.
• Lead development of advanced KV cache management strategies across distributed storage layers.
• Partner with AI/ML teams to optimize inference performance in PyTorch and TensorFlow.
• Establish benchmarking and performance tuning frameworks for production inference environments.
• Diagnose and resolve complex system bottlenecks across storage, networking, and GPU subsystems.
• Influence architecture decisions for distributed inference systems ensuring scalability and data locality.
• Drive engineering excellence through observability, automation, and reliability engineering.
• Mentor junior engineers and provide technical leadership across cross-functional teams.

Skills

Distributed storage

GPU data paths

Python

C/C++

Linux I/O

NVMe storage

RDMA

GPUDirect Storage

Performance tuning

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

NVIDIA NIXL

Infinia Data Platform

GPUDirect Storage

RDMA

NVMe-over-Fabrics

Job description

DDN is hiring a Senior Staff Engineer to lead hands-on development of AI data-path storage for real-time inference. You will architect high-performance data movement pipelines across GPU, CPU and storage, and collaborate with architects to deliver scalable, low-latency systems.

Experience building production-grade AI infrastructure, plus deep knowledge of distributed storage and GPU I/O, is essential. The role involves mentoring engineers and driving cross-functional initiatives to optimize