Staff Performance Engineer

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." - IDC

"The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments" - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence.

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management.

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage.

The Data Direct Networks Technology Center is seeking a Staff Performance Engineer to optimize the performance of our SFA product line. The ideal candidate will be involved with all aspects of the embedded software development process and will work with other engineers to ensure our storage appliances meet performance target as required by customers and AI use cases. This is a hybrid role. The ideal candidate should be able to come into the offices, in either Columbia, MD, or Colorado Spring, CO a few times a week.

Key Responsibilities

Design and execute performance tests to evaluate the performance of DDN SFA storage appliance.
• Analyze test results and identify areas for improvement.
• Analyze and troubleshoot performance issues with various benchmarks and IO workloads, identifying bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
• Collaborate with engineering team and drive vendors to implement performance optimizations.
• Work with product management team to develop performance metrics that meet customer requirements.
• Develop and maintain performance testing tools and scripts.
• Participate in code reviews and provide feedback on performance-related issues.

Requirements:

• BS or MS degree in Computer science, Engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in performance engineering, with a focus on storage systems.
• Strong background in storage systems, performance benchmarking, and networking.
• Experience with performance testing tools such as fio, VDbench, perf, dstat, etc.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to write efficient, well-structured code for performance-critical applications.
• Proficiency in C, Python, and shell script.
• Experience with agile development methodologies and version control systems.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Nice to have:

• Experience with Lustre filesystems and Lustre performance tools.
• Familiar with NVMe SSDs and their performance characteristics.
• Experience with CPU and memory subsystem and how their performance affects storage applications.

This position requires participation in an on-call rotation to provide after-hours support as needed.

Salary Range: $123,211.00 - $228,821.00

Join our dynamic and driven team, where engineering excellence is at the heart of everything we do. We seek individuals who love to challenge themselves and are fueled by curiosity. Here, you'll have the opportunity to work across various areas of the company, thanks to our flat organizational structure that encourages hands-on involvement and direct contributions to our mission. Leadership is earned by those who take initiative and consistently deliver outstanding results, both in their work ethic and deliverables, making strong prioritization skills essential. Additionally, we value strong communication skills in all our engineers and researchers, as they are crucial for the success of our teams and the company as a whole.

Interview Process: After submitting your application, one of our recruiters will review your resume. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 30-minute interview during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the interview, you will enter the main process, which can consist of up to four interviews in total:

• Coding assessment: Often in a language of your choice.
• Systems design: Translate high-level requirements into a scalable, fault-tolerant service (depending on role).
• Real-time problem-solving: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
• Meet and greet with the wider team.
• Our goal is to finish the main process in 2-3 weeks at most.

DataDirect Networks (DDN) is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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