Staff Engineer, Network Infra — DPU Automation (Hybrid)

DigitalOcean; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 191,000 - 239,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Hybrid work model

Conference & training reimbursement

Job summary

DigitalOcean is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to help design and build the next generation of software powering our global network infrastructure. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, networking, distributed systems, and hardware acceleration.

You will build the automation, orchestration, and infrastructure software that enables DigitalOcean to scale its network reliably while exploring new architectures using DPUs, SmartNICs, and programmable network infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Significant experience designing and building production software systems at scale.
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems, API design, concurrency, testing, observability, and reliability.
• Proficiency in Go, Python, or C++.
• Experience with automation, orchestration, or infrastructure platforms.
• Solid networking knowledge: TCP/IP, BGP, EVPN/VXLAN, VLANs, routing, switching, telemetry.
• Experience with network devices, automation frameworks, APIs, or vendor SDKs.
• Strong technical writing skills: RFCs, architecture docs, and proposals.
• Ability to translate complex problems into clear proposals and executable plans.
• Excellent communication and technical leadership without formal authority.

Responsibilities

• Design and build network automation and orchestration systems for DigitalOcean's global network.
• Develop software for provisioning, configuration management, lifecycle, validation, monitoring, and remediation.
• Create software integrating with DPUs, SmartNICs, and programmable network infrastructure.
• Develop automation for large-scale datacenter and POP deployments, including new hardware and vendor integrations.
• Build software that abstracts vendor/hardware differences while ensuring safety and reliability.
• Create tools to diagnose network issues and automate operational workflows.
• Turn repetitive operations into scalable software solutions.
• Collaborate with network engineers and infrastructure architects to translate requirements into software architectures.
• Set engineering standards for infra software development, testing, observability, and readiness.
• Lead projects from design to deployment and operation.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership across the org.

Skills

Distributed systems

APIs

Concurrency

Observability

Reliability

Go/Python/C++

Tools

DPUs/SmartNICs

Job description

DigitalOcean is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to help design and build the next generation of software powering our global network infrastructure. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, networking, distributed systems, and hardware acceleration.

You will build the automation, orchestration, and infrastructure software that enables DigitalOcean to scale its network reliably while exploring new architectures using DPUs, SmartNICs, and programmable network infrastructure.