Senior Sales Engineer

Data Direct Networks; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Highly Competitive Vacation Plans

Paid Holidays

Bonus Programs

Tuition Reimbursement

Employee Referral Program

Excellent Medical, Dental and Vision

Paid Leave Programs

Anniversary and Recognition Awards

Job summary

Data Direct Networks is seeking a Sales Engineer to architect high-performance storage solutions for AI/ML, HPC, and data analytics. You will translate customer requirements into scalable architectures and demos, working across finance, pharma, education, and research sectors.

You will design, benchmark, and propose storage solutions, collaborate with engineering, and mentor teammates while shaping product direction to meet customer needs.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of storage architectures including SAN, NAS and object storage.

Responsibilities

• Architect storage for AI/ML training, HPC simulations and data analytics.
• Design for reliability, resilience, security and scale, balancing performance with data protection.
• Create BOMs, system architectures and technical proposals for complex RFPs.
• Conduct live demos, POCs and performance benchmarking.
• Integrate with GPU clusters, Kubernetes, cloud platforms and AI frameworks.
• Stay current on AI infrastructure and storage technology trends.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams using field insights.
• Mentor team members and contribute to technical thought leadership.
• Shape product direction based on customer needs.

Skills

Storage architectures

SAN/NAS/Obj storage

NFS/SMB

TCP/IP/InfiniBand/RDMA

AI workloads

Communication of technical concepts

Cloud and GPU clusters

Pre-sales experience

Enterprise storage systems

AI/ML infrastructure

HPC workloads

Solution design

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Equivalent experience

Tools

GPFS

Lustre

Exascaler

Kubernetes

Job description

We are on our way to being the first company to power 1 MILLION GPUs and want world‑class talent to join our amazing team!

The world is moving faster than ever, and yet, it will never move this slowly again. We are at the forefront of an incredible technological revolution but, at its core, it is fueled by incredible people. People like you.

1,000 Global Employees

11k Happy Customers

16 International Offices

We’re Looking for the Best and Brightest

We are the world’s leading data intelligence platform that reliably accelerates massive datasets for actionable real-time insights. Join our team to help the best and brightest minds tackle the world’s biggest challenges in business, science, medicine, academia and government.

Do What Can’t be Done

For the past 20 years, our team has kept us at the forefront of storage technology and has provided the foundation for enabling researchers to push the limits of "what can be done."
These innovations take research and discovery to the next level, enabling them to discover cures to disease, observe global warming patterns, model innovative automotive and aerospace designs, discover new sources of energy, make communities safer, and accelerate business results across a wide variety of industries.

DDN Helps Build Your Future, Too

At DDN, we understand our customers’ diverse needs. Whether you’re a data scientist, IT professional, executive, or researcher, our solutions empower you with cutting‑edge technology and unparalleled support.

Highly Competitive Vacation Plans

Paid Holidays

Bonus Programs

Tuition Reimbursement

Employee Referral Program

Excellent Medical, Dental and Vision Benefits

Paid Leave Programs

Anniversary and Recognition Awards

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

About DDN

DDN powers the world's most demanding data workloads—from AI research to drug discovery, autonomous vehicles to financial modeling. For over two decades, our massively parallel storage solutions have enabled breakthrough innovations across industries. Join us in building the infrastructure that makes the impossible possible.

The Role

As a Sales Engineer, you'll architect high-performance storage solutions that enable customers to achieve their boldest ambitions. Work across finance, pharmaceuticals, education, and physical AI—designing systems that power real‑time trading, accelerate drug discovery, enable groundbreaking research, and fuel autonomous systems.

You'll translate complex customer requirements into elegant technical solutions, demonstrate capabilities through POCs and benchmarks, and serve as a trusted advisor throughout the sales cycle.

What You'll Do

Partner with customers to understand their critical data challenges—high-frequency trading, genomics processing, AI model training, or autonomous vehicle sensor fusion

Translate technical requirements into elegant, scalable storage solutions that exceed expectations

Act as trusted technical advisor throughout the sales cycle

Solution Design

Architect storage for AI/ML training, HPC simulations, data analytics, and GPU‑accelerated workloads

Design for reliability, resilience, security, and scale - balancing performance with data protection

Create BOMs, system architectures, and technical proposals for complex RFPs

Conduct live demos, POCs, and performance benchmarking

Integrate with GPU clusters, Kubernetes, cloud platforms, and AI frameworks

Stay current on AI infrastructure and storage technology trends

Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams using field insights

Mentor team members and contribute to technical thought leadership

Shape product direction based on customer needs

What You Bring

Technical Foundation (All Levels)

Strong understanding of storage and data architectures: SAN, NAS, object storage, parallel file systems

Knowledge of architectural patterns for reliability, resilience, security, and scale

Understanding of storage and data protocols: S3, POSIX, NFS, SMB

Familiarity with network protocols: TCP/IP, InfiniBand, RDMA

Curiosity about massively parallel technologies (Lustre, GPFS, Exascaler)

Aptitude for AI workloads and how storage enables AI innovation

Ability to communicate technical concepts to both engineers and executives

Entry Level (0-3 years)

Bachelor's in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)

Exposure to storage/systems through coursework, internships, or projects

Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills

Experienced (3+ years)

3-8+ years in pre-sales, solutions architecture, or technical consulting

Hands‑on experience with enterprise storage systems

Experience with AI/ML infrastructure, HPC, or high-performance workloads (preferred)

Success managing complex technical sales cycles

What Sets You Apart

Genuine curiosity about AI and its impact across industries

Ownership mindset - you solve problems until they're solved

Ability to translate technical complexity into business value

Thrive in fast‑evolving technology environments

Collaborative team player with integrity and empathy

Diverse Backgrounds Welcome: Whether you’re coming from enterprise storage vendors (Weka, VAST, NetApp, Pure), research computing (university HPC, national labs), or infrastructure roles (cloud architects, platform engineers), your experience translates to this role. Technical depth + customer focus matter more than your starting point.

Why DDN

Impact

Power cancer research, autonomous vehicles, and AI breakthroughs

Work on infrastructure enabling discoveries that change the world

See direct results from your designs

Growth

Master AI infrastructure, parallel computing, and next-gen storage

Learn from world‑class engineers and architects

Continuous learning: training, certifications, conferences

Team & Culture

20+ years leading storage innovation

Technical excellence and customer obsession

Competitive compensation: base, bonuses, stock options, benefits

Financial Services: High-frequency trading, risk modeling, real‑time analytics

Pharmaceuticals: Genomics sequencing, drug discovery, clinical research

Education & Research: University HPC, AI research, climate modeling, scientific computing

Physical AI & Robotics: Autonomous vehicles, robotic systems, sensor data processing

Compensation Range: $250K - $300K

We pride ourselves on our commitment to delivering tangible and consistent results.

Regional Director of Sales, Middle East and Africa