Senior Lab Ops Engineer — AI Hardware & Networking

Upscale AI; United States; Hybrid; USD 205,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Upscale AI is hiring a hands‑on Lab Operations lead to run day‑to‑day lab activities, manage racks, switches, and servers, and ensure projects stay on schedule. You will own asset tracking, forecasting, and procurement workflows, partnering with engineering and facilities to scale operations efficiently.

This role requires deep lab infrastructure experience, strong networking fundamentals, and the ability to physically handle hardware in data centers or colocations as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical field or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• 10–12 years of hands‑on experience in lab operations or similar roles.
• Demonstrated hands‑on experience with servers, racks, switches and lab equipment; not a desk role.
• Ability to rack and stack hardware, move and lift equipment, and travel to data centers or on‑site facilities.
• Strong networking fundamentals and ability to own connectivity and systems issues independently.
• Proven track record in planning lab needs with stakeholders and forecasting capacity.
• Experience building tracking systems and running physical audits.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day lab operations across software and hardware labs; receive, commission, deploy equipment, and maintain health and schedules.
• Partner with lab owners to forecast lab capacity, equipment needs, and infrastructure requirements.
• Install, configure, and maintain servers, switches, and lab network infrastructure; troubleshoot issues directly.
• Build and maintain tracking dashboards and asset databases; manage vendor relationships and procurement workflows.
• Triage and prioritize engineering requests; coordinate with hardware, firmware and validation teams to keep projects moving.

Skills

Lab operations

Hardware procurement

Vendor management

Project coordination

Networking fundamentals

Cross-functional communication

Inventory management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Servers

Switches

Rack hardware

Asset dashboards

Job description

Why join Upscale, Inc.

Upscale, Inc., is building the high-performance infrastructure powering the next generation of artificial intelligence. Backed by over $300M in funding and rapid global adoption, we are scaling systems designed for the world’s most demanding AI workloads.

We focus on first-principles engineering across silicon, systems, and networking—where performance, scale, and execution are critical.Our team is talent-dense andhigh-performing. We value ownership, technical rigor, and speed, and we offer the opportunity to work on foundational problems with immediate, real-world impact.

If you’re looking to do high-impact work, move fast, and help define the infrastructure behind the future of AI—Upscale is where you can produce meaningful work at the frontier—and operate at a high standard.

Role Summary

Operate and maintain the software and hardware engineering lab environments at Upscale, a fast-moving AI hardware and infrastructure company. This is a hands-on role: day-to-day work includes provisioning and racking servers and switches, keeping systems and networks healthy, and following the standards and automation already set up by senior engineering staff. You're the person engineers and lab owners rely on to get equipment up and running, keep things tracked, and keep projects moving. There's room to grow into broader systems and network ownership as the lab and team scale. This role suits someone comfortable wearing multiple hats in a fast-paced environment, rather than operating in a narrow, siloed function.

Responsibilities

• Hands-on provisioning and operations: provision and configure servers, switches, and storage for lab use; receive, commission, and physically deploy lab hardware; take ownership of routine maintenance and troubleshooting yourself; rack and stack hardware as part of routine setup.
• Day-to-day systems and network administration: install, configure, and maintain physical and virtual servers and lab network equipment, following established configuration standards; working knowledge of basic networking (switches, TCP/IP, DNS/DHCP); administer Linux/Windows systems day to day (OS installs, patching, routine config); operate virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware, Proxmox) for software and hardware development environments; run existing automation tools (e.g., Ansible playbooks) built by senior staff; monitor system and network health using established tools and respond to alerts.
• Lab owner support and coordination: work with lab owners and engineers across both software and hardware teams to understand what they need set up and when; keep them updated on status; flag upcoming capacity or equipment needs to leadership rather than independently planning long term architecture.
• Project and request management: triage and prioritize incoming requests; keep status updated; coordinate with the ASIC team to keep work moving.

Qualifications

• 7 to 10 years of hands on experience provisioning and operating servers, networking equipment, and lab or data center infrastructure, ideally supporting a software and hardware development engineering environment.
• Working knowledge of basic networking (switches, protocols) and Linux/Windows server administration.
• Familiarity with virtualization platforms (VMware, Proxmox, or similar).
• Able to run established automation tools (e.g., Ansible) without needing to build or architect them.
• Comfortable with physical hardware installation as everyday work, including rack and stack.
• Experience tracking inventory and assets and helping manage procurement.
• Good organizational skills for juggling multiple requests.
• Willing and able to travel to or work on site at colocation or data center facilities as needed

• Experience in a networking, server, or infrastructure company.
• Background at an AI hardware or infrastructure startup, a semiconductor or networking hardware company with hands-on bring-up or validation labs, or a hyperscale data center operator, ideally having worn multiple hats rather than a narrow, single-function role.
• Familiarity with monitoring and provisioning tools.
• Prior experience in a hardware or engineering lab environment.

$175,000 - $193,000 a year

Where you fall within that range depends on your experience, skills, and impact—we benchmark against internal levels to keep things fair and consistent.

Equal Opportunity

Upscale, Inc., is building a team that reflects a wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.

Accessibility & Accommodations

We’re committed to making our hiring process accessible to everyone. If you need accommodations at any stage, just reach out to us [e-mail]—we’re happy to help. Note: This inbox is only for accommodation requests.