Sr. Datacenter Operations Technician

About xAI

xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. We operate with a flat organizational structure. All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important. All employees are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

 

About the Role

As a Datacenter Operations Technician at xAI, you will be responsible for the health of our server and network infrastructure for Data Centers and Global Points of Presence. You will be responsible for our two most important data center operations metrics: mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to repair (MTTR). You are great at following directions, are a fast learner and are super attentive to details. You are accessible via cell phone and willing to get onsite when there are emergencies as needed. You understand all aspects of the equipment you are responsible for to drive efficiencies and optimizations where necessary to simplify and improve our server intake and repair processes.

Responsibilities

• Report to the job site during initial construction and report back to the engineering team as required.
• Performing troubleshooting and monitoring of the servers and network in our data centers and global points of presence
• Rack and stack of data center network equipment 
• Maintain Warehouse inventory and asset management using our internal application.
• Labeling and troubleshooting for fiber/optics cables
• Power supply cabling, installation, troubleshooting and repair
• Installation of racks, servers and switches; this includes staging racks in place, cabling, power up and handoff of hardware to the provisioning team for customer capacity allocation.
• Manage, response and resolution of data center operations tickets used cross functionally within xAI via Jira.
• Create and Maintain documentation of tasks and standard operating procedures
• Receipt and Decommissioning of data center hardware.
• Vendor returns for infrastructure under and out of warranty
• Manage spare parts inventory within the data center
• Define, design, and implement network layouts and solutions within our data centers

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalency certificate
• 5+ years of experience working with server, storage, compute and network hardware
• 5+ Years of experience troubleshooting and repairing servers and networking infrastructure
• 5+ years of experience in Inventory Management, and ordering, receiving and shipping server and network equipment
• Position is subject to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing
• Position is subject to pre-employment and annual post employment background checks
• Physical Requirements:
  • Work is often performed in tight quarters and physical dexterity is necessary to perform job functions
  • Ability to lift up to 35lbs. unassisted
  • Comfortable working at elevated heights (up to 50 feet) with appropriate safety gear
  • Comfortable working in an environment requiring exposure to noise
• Available to work evenings and weekends, as the schedule varies depending on site operational needs; flexibility is required

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong Linux skills including: 
  • Navigating the system’s directories and filing system
  • Manipulating files in the Linux shell
  • User permission configuration
  • Package installation and software management 
  • Ability to identify and apply different filesystem types
  • Using Linux commands for process management
  • Basic troubleshooting and debugging
  • Bash or other scripting
• Experience being on-call and ability to respond to critical events as needed