Software Engineer (Infrastructure)

CompanyThunder Compute is building the VMware for GPUs. We have raised over $17M from Matrix Partners, Y Combinator, and leading angels from Coreweave, Microsoft, Cognition, and Anthropic.Deployed GPU fleets are currently only 5–20% utilized. Leading solutions for underutilization sit at the workload layer and are therefore only able to optimize specific use cases. We believe the ideal cluster optimization solution must be invisible to developers and compatible with all workloads; hence, it must sit at the systems layer.We are a team of systems researchers productionizing cutting-edge GPU virtualization research to build this general-purpose optimization layer.Concretely, our virtualization library abstracts GPUs across TCP networking. We use a userspace shim library, loaded through LD_PRELOAD, to intercept CUDA calls and send them over gRPC to a host server connected to a physical GPU elsewhere in the data center.This enables something like “Ceph for GPUs”: GPUs become network resources that can be abstracted, pooled, and dynamically allocated across a cluster to improve utilization without requiring developers to modify their workloads.RoleYour work will focus on building the cloud infrastructure surrounding our GPU virtualization layer. This includes the Go backbone of our cloud platform, Kubernetes-based orchestration, production reliability, networking, storage, billing infrastructure, and the systems used to deploy and operate GPU capacity at scale.You will take ownership of complex infrastructure from early design through production deployment. Example projects may include:Building control-plane services for provisioning and managing virtual GPU instancesDesigning reliable systems for GPU allocation, scheduling, and lifecycle managementImproving our unconventional Kubernetes deployment, which acts as a form of hypervisor for customer workloadsBuilding infrastructure for networking, storage, authentication, billing, and usage meteringAutomating the deployment and operation of GPU hosts across cloud providers and customer data centersDebugging failures across customer workloads, Kubernetes, our control plane, the network, and physical GPU infrastructureDesigning systems for failure recovery, capacity management, observability, and incident responseImproving the security, reliability, and operational simplicity of the platform as it scalesWorking directly with customers to diagnose problems and deploy Thunder Compute in new environmentsYou will spend your days bouncing between the weeds of complicated production infrastructure that is live and used by customers. One week, you may be debugging a networking failure across a Kubernetes cluster; the next, you may be redesigning the provisioning system to make deployments faster and more reliable.This work is not easy. It blends the hardest parts of cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, and production engineering.We look for exceptional engineering talent, strong work ethic, and extreme attention to detail. We must move quickly while shipping high-quality, reliable infrastructure.Core Technical SkillsExceptional Go ability, including concurrency, distributed systems design, API design, and production service developmentDeep understanding of Kubernetes, containers, Linux, networking, storage, or cloud infrastructureExperience building and operating critical production systemsStrong systems debugging and operational abilityAbility to reason through unfamiliar systems across multiple layers of the stackWorking knowledge of Python; familiarity with TypeScript or Next.js is helpfulMust HavesStrong work ethic and the ability to independently push a project from an experimental prototype through 100% completion under tight deadlinesAttention to detail and the ability to deliver production-ready, thoroughly tested code without significant oversightStrong ownership over correctness, reliability, performance, and operational outcomesAbility to debug ambiguous problems without a clear reproduction, existing playbook, or obvious ownerWillingness to work directly with customers and investigate difficult production failuresStrong communication skills and the ability to coordinate across engineering, customers, and external infrastructure providersPreferredExperience with Kubernetes internals, container runtimes, cloud networking, distributed storage, infrastructure security, or large-scale control planesExperience building high-stakes production infrastructure at a trading firm such as Citadel Securities or Jane Street; a cloud provider such as AWS, CoreWeave, or Lambda; an AI infrastructure company; or a similarly demanding engineering environmentStrong computer science fundamentals demonstrated through academic work, distributed systems research, open-source contributions, or exceptional professional experienceExperience designing and operating infrastructure across multiple cloud providers or on-premise environmentsExperience taking a new infrastructure system from an early prototype into a reliable production platformWhy JoinYou will join early enough to meaningfully shape the architecture, engineering standards, and technical direction of the company.You will work directly with the founders on a category-defining systems problem, with a short path between writing code and seeing it run in production. The infrastructure you build will operate a new foundational layer for GPU computing.Unlike at a large company, you will not be restricted to one small component of a much larger system. You will own broad, technically difficult areas of the platform and have the opportunity to grow into senior technical and engineering leadership as the company scales.LogisticsYou will report to co-founder and CTO Brian Model, formerly a Quantitative Developer at Citadel SecuritiesThis role is full-time and in person, five days per week, at our office in downtown San FranciscoRelocation support and visa sponsorship are availableBenefitsCompetitive salary and meaningful equityDaily lunch, snacks, and coffeeTeam dinners and events401(k)Health, dental, and vision insuranceCompensation Range: $150K - $250K