Senior Software Engineer, NVIDIA Kubernetes

NVIDIA; United States; On-site; USD 184,000 - 357,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA seeks a Senior Software Engineer to design and operate Kubernetes-backed management plane software for customer infrastructure. You will drive cluster lifecycle, implement controllers and CRDs in Go, and lead automated provisioning across bare metal, virtualized, and cloud environments.

A strong background in distributed systems, Linux, and CI/CD is required. You will mentor engineers, contribute to release pipelines, and help improve performance, reliability, and security of complex

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including production distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency in Go, C++, Rust, or Java with solid data structures and algorithms.
• Solid understanding of Kubernetes, API server, controllers, and reconciliation loops.
• Experience with automation using Ansible and Terraform and CI/CD systems.
• Strong Linux fundamentals and performance, security, reliability in distributed environments.
• Track record of leading technical builds and mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and build management plane capabilities: cluster lifecycle operations, node management, fleet health reporting.
• Architect and implement Kubernetes controllers, operators, CRDs in Go with idempotent reconciliation.
• Drive automated cluster provisioning across bare metal, virtualized, and cloud environments.
• Lead technical builds: build docs, reviews, and cross-team alignment.
• Diagnose, improve performance, reliability, and security of distributed systems.
• Own test strategy and automate build, test, and release pipelines.
• Mentor engineers and maintain clear documentation and runbooks.
• Prioritize tasks while maintaining high code quality.

Skills

Go

C++

Rust

Java

Kubernetes

Distributed systems

CI/CD

Linux

Ansible

Terraform

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science

Tools

GitLab

Jenkins

Cluster API

Job description

NVIDIA is recognized as one of the technology world's most desirable employers, driving groundbreaking developments in Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing, and Visualization. Doing what's never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world's best talent.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Management Plane area, you will own building and delivering software that creates, upgrades, scales, and operates Kubernetes clusters on customer-managed infrastructure. This infrastructure supports demanding AI and high-performance computing workloads. You will set technical direction, lead cross-team development, and mentor other engineers while shipping high-quality, production-ready software.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Develop and build management plane capabilities such as cluster lifecycle operations (compose, upgrade, scale, repair, delete), node management, and fleet-wide health and status reporting, from development through production.
• Architect and implement Kubernetes controllers, operators, and custom resource definitions (CRDs) in Go, with reliable, idempotent reconciliation.
• Drive automated cluster provisioning across bare metal, virtualized, and cloud environments, using Cluster API-style concepts and infrastructure providers.
• Lead technical build: write build docs, run build reviews, and align partner teams across the software and hardware stack.
• Diagnose and improve the performance, reliability, and security of complex, asynchronous distributed systems, including debugging issues in production.
• Own test strategy (unit, integration, end-to-end) and automate build, test, and release pipelines.
• Mentor engineers, improve code reviews, and keep documentation and runbooks clear and current.
• Prioritize various tasks while maintaining high code quality.

What We Want To See:

• BS/MS in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of relevant software engineering experience, including building and operating production distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency in a systems language (Go, C++, Rust, or Java), with solid data structures and algorithms fundamentals and the ability to become productive in Go quickly.
• Strong understanding of Kubernetes and container orchestration, including the API server, controllers, and reconciliation loops.
• Background in distributed system build and development, including consistency, availability, and failure handling at scale.
• Experience in automation using tools like Ansible and Terraform, along with experience establishing and managing CI/CD systems.
• Solid Linux fundamentals and an understanding of performance, security, and reliability in distributed environments.
• Track record of leading technical builds and mentoring other engineers.

Ways to Stand Out from the crowd:

• Broad experience with Go, especially concurrency and testing, and with client‑go / controller-runtime.
• Significant hands‑on production experience operating Kubernetes at scale, including control plane or etcd scalability and availability.
• Experience with Cluster API or infrastructure providers on bare metal, vSphere, OpenStack, or AWS, along with solid experience using GitLab, Jenkins, or other CI/CD platforms.
• Expert knowledge of Linux kernel and system internals, or experience with GPU/DPU‑accelerated infrastructure.
• Open‑source contributions to Kubernetes or related cloud‑native projects.

Widely considered to be one of the technology world's most desirable employers, NVIDIA offers highly competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package. As you plan your future, see what we can offer to you and your family www.nvidiabenefits.com/

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:

184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4; and 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD for Level 5.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits .

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.