Director of Engineering

Overview

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. 

Job Description

DDN is seeking a dynamic and experienced Director of Engineering to lead the design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of a critical component of Infinia Data Intelligent Platform.  The ideal candidate will possess deep technical expertise in I/O path optimization, erasure coding, SPDK (Storage Performance Development Kit), and distributed locking mechanisms. As a leader, you will be both a strategic thinker and a hands-on architect, guiding your team to deliver high-performance, fault-tolerant, and secure data management services at extreme scale.

 

We are looking for remote candidates in the following metropolitan areas: Boston, MA; Raleigh, NC; Denver, CO; or Tucson, AZ. Occasional in-person meetings or team events may be required.

 

Key Responsibilities:

• Foster a culture of technical excellence, code quality, and continuous learning, ensuring that best practices are consistently applied across the team.
• Set clear performance goals, conduct regular performance evaluations, and drive professional development initiatives for team members.
• Develop and maintain a robust technical roadmap for storage I/O path optimization, ensuring timely execution and alignment with the company’s strategic objectives.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Architecture, and other Engineering teams to define requirements, refine designs, and validate assumptions.
• Oversee the analysis, design, and implementation of next-generation I/O path optimizations to enhance system throughput, latency, and overall performance.
• Evaluate, select, and implement advanced erasure coding techniques to maximize data durability, reliability, and storage efficiency while minimizing overhead.
• Leverage SPDK (Storage Performance Development Kit) to streamline integration with underlying storage platforms and hardware accelerators, ensuring seamless support for heterogeneous environments.
• Drive the adoption of automated testing frameworks, continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and robust monitoring solutions.
• Ensure that deliverables meet stringent quality standards, and that code is well-documented, maintainable, and thoroughly tested.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 12+ years of professional software development experience with a focus on large-scale storage systems development, particularly with I/O path optimization and advanced caching, buffering, and scheduling techniques.
• 7+ years of experience building, leading, and managing high-performance engineering teams.
• Experience implementing erasure coding solutions and a deep understanding of related algorithms and data redundancy techniques.
• Strong knowledge of SPDKs and their integration points within low-level storage stacks or distributed systems.
• Proven experience with distributed locking mechanisms, concurrency control, and consistency models in lar