Staff HPC Network Architect

Lambda; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision coverage

401k with company match (USA)

Wellness stipend

Commuter stipend

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Lambda is seeking a seasoned network architect to design and optimize high-performance data center networks for AI and large-scale cloud workloads in the San Francisco Bay Area. You will define topology for GPU clusters, storage backends, and multi-tenant environments, while advancing automation and telemetry capabilities.

Ideal candidates have 7+ years of experience in data center networking, deep InfiniBand HDR/NDR and Ethernet fabric expertise, and a proven ability to guide cross-functional

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience architecting high-performance data center networks, preferably for HPC/AI/large-scale cloud infrastructure
• Deep expertise with InfiniBand HDR/NDR and advanced Ethernet fabrics (RoCE, RDMA)
• Strong understanding of data center switching architectures, congestion control (PFC, ECN), QoS, and VXLAN/EVPN
• Experience with BGP-based fabric design, MP-BGP EVPN, ECMP, route policy, convergence
• SDN, APIs, automation, and network telemetry experience
• Strong optical networking competency, transceivers, fiber types, WDM

Responsibilities

• Architect high-performance networking solutions for ultra-low-latency and high-bandwidth AI/cloud workloads
• Define topology and patterns for large-scale GPU clusters, storage backends, multi-tenant environments
• Evaluate and benchmark next-gen network technologies to meet AI workload requirements
• Develop network architecture standards, reference designs, and scalability roadmaps
• Partner with compute/storage teams for end-to-end data flow and fault tolerance
• Guide automation strategies and tooling for provisioning, telemetry, and visibility
• Mentor engineers and teams on advanced network concepts and best practices

Skills

InfiniBand HDR/NDR

Ethernet fabrics

VXLAN EVPN

BGP-based fabric

SDN automation

Low-latency design

Leadership

Ambiguity tolerance

Job description

Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU.

If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us.

*Note: This position requires presence in our San Jose, San Francisco, or Bellevue office location 4 days per week; Lambda’s designated work from home day is currently Tuesday.

What You’ll Do

• Architect high-performance networking solutions that power cloud platforms, with a focus on ultra-low-latency and high-bandwidth connectivity.

• Define the network topology and architectural patterns for large-scale GPU clusters, storage backends, and multi-tenant environments.

• Evaluate, benchmark, and select next-generation network technologies (e.g., InfiniBand NDR/XDR, RoCE, 400G-1.6T Ethernet, Ultra Ethernet, ESUN, OCI, etc) to meet AI workload requirements.

• Develop and maintain network architecture standards, reference designs, and scalability roadmaps for multi-site and hybrid environments.

• Partner with compute and storage architects to ensure seamless end-to-end data flow and fault tolerance.

• Guide network automation strategies and tooling to enable efficient provisioning, telemetry, and operational visibility.

• Mentor engineers and cross-functional teams on advanced network concepts, troubleshooting, and architectural best practices.

You

• Proven experience (7+ years) architecting high-performance data center networks, preferably for HPC, AI/ML, or large-scale cloud infrastructure.

• Deep expertise with InfiniBand (HDR/NDR) and advanced Ethernet fabrics, including RoCE and RDMA protocols.

• Strong understanding of data center switching architectures, congestion control (PFC, ECN), QoS, and network virtualization technologies such as VXLAN and EVPN.

• Skilled in designing for low-latency and high-throughput data paths, including GPU-to-GPU and storage traffic optimization.

• Expertise with BGP-based fabric design, including eBGP underlays, MP-BGP EVPN, ECMP, route policy, and convergence.

• Experience with SDN, APIs, automation, and network telemetry.

• Strong optical networking competency, including transceiver technologies, fiber types and topologies, link budgets, breakout architectures, and WDM.

• Experience building resilient, fault-tolerant high-performance network architectures with redundancy, failover, and high availability.

• Excellent communication and leadership skills, capable of influencing technical decisions across diverse teams.

• Strong ownership and can do attitude, self-starter who feels comfortable working in ambiguity.

Nice to Have

• Hands‑on experience with AI workload profiling, collective communication patterns (e.g., NCCL, MPI), and network tuning for distributed training.

• Familiarity with network automation frameworks and telemetry tools.

• Exposure to DPU/SmartNIC technologies, including NVIDIA BlueField, or similar.

• Knowledge of large-scale, multi‑site interconnect design, including DWDM or metro/long-haul networking.

• Experience collaborating with hyperscale or enterprise customers on highly customized network designs.

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Lambda

• Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast

• Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, and Crescent Cove

• We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG

• Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers

• We offer generous cash & equity compensation

• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents

• Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles

• 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)

• Flexible paid time off plan that we all actually use

Equal Opportunity Employer

Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.