Senior AI Systems Engineer - Tech Lead & Mentor (Hybrid)

NetApp, Inc.; North Carolina; Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

NetApp is seeking a Senior Engineer in its AI BU to design and build complex software systems, mentor engineers, and lead critical components from design through delivery. This hands-on role emphasizes technical excellence, scalability, and collaboration with product stakeholders.

You will work on cloud-native architectures across AWS/Azure/Google Cloud, influence system design, and stay current with AI/ML technologies while improving observability and reliability in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with distributed systems.
• Experience as technical lead or primary design owner on a project or team-level initiative.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Experience with data processing, analytics, or AI/ML systems.
• Experience mentoring engineers and contributing to a team's technical quality bar.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to author design docs.

Responsibilities

• Serve as tech lead and/or primary design owner for a project or component within AI BU, driving it from design through delivery.
• Design and build complex, high-quality software systems, owning technical correctness, performance, and maintainability within your area.
• Author design docs/RFCs for your project or team and participate in design reviews for adjacent teams.
• Write production code and review the most complex designs and PRs within your team.
• Partner with your manager/tech lead and product stakeholders to translate requirements into technical designs.
• Mentor and support the growth of less experienced engineers on your team.
• Identify and help resolve technical risk within your area of ownership — technical debt, scalability limits, reliability gaps.
• Contribute to and help enforce best practices in system design, testing, observability, and operational excellence within your team.
• Stay current on new technologies, frameworks, and patterns, and propose adoption where it adds value.

Skills

Distributed systems

Technical lead

Cloud-native architectures

AI/ML systems

Mentoring engineers

Communication skills

CI/CD

Tools

CI/CD

Design docs

Job description

NetApp is seeking a Senior Engineer in its AI BU to design and build complex software systems, mentor engineers, and lead critical components from design through delivery. This hands-on role emphasizes technical excellence, scalability, and collaboration with product stakeholders.

You will work on cloud-native architectures across AWS/Azure/Google Cloud, influence system design, and stay current with AI/ML technologies while improving observability and reliability in a hybrid work environment.