Director, Host Software Engineering — AI/HPC

Cornelis Networks, Inc.•San Jose, CA

17d•Remote

About The Position

At Cornelis, we are building the future of AI and HPC networking with an AI-first approach to silicon and software development. We are seeking engineers who are energized by working on cutting-edge ASIC design and distributed software systems, and who are motivated to push the boundaries on how AI can transform everything from chip architecture to system performance at scale. Cornelis Networks delivers the world’s highest performance scale-out networking solutions for AI and HPC datacenters. Our differentiated architecture seamlessly integrates hardware, software, and system-level technologies to maximize the efficiency of GPU, CPU, and accelerator-based compute clusters at any scale. Our solutions drive breakthroughs in AI & HPC workloads, empowering our customers to push the boundaries of innovation. Backed by top-tier venture capital and strategic investors, we are committed to innovation, performance, and scalability - solving the world’s most demanding computational challenges with our next-generation networking solutions. We are a fast-growing, forward-thinking team of architects, engineers, and business professionals with a proven track record of building successful products and companies. As a global organization, our team spans multiple U.S. states and six countries, and we continue to expand with exceptional talent in onsite, hybrid, and fully remote roles. We are seeking a Director, Host Software to lead the engineering team responsible for our complete host-side software ecosystem. This domain encompasses everything from performance-critical Linux kernel drivers and hardware abstraction layers to high-performance transport libraries and AI/HPC middleware integration. In this role, you will foster a culture of technical excellence and empowerment, where engineers are encouraged to prototype novel solutions and drive end-to-end ownership of their features. You will lead the definition and delivery of host software for future product generations, ensuring our fabric delivers industry-leading performance for the world’s most demanding computational workloads. You will also champion the use of modern development tools, including AI-augmented workflows, to amplify the team's impact and velocity.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in high-performance systems programming in C/C++ on Linux.
Prior experience in technical leadership or management roles (e.g., Team Lead, Manager, or similar) with a track record of guiding engineering efforts.
Strong understanding of across relevant technical domain areas, such as Linux kernel internals, networking transport protocols, HPC/AI communication middleware and applications, etc.
Hands-on experience with high-performance networking concepts, RDMA, or communication middleware.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for both technical and executive audiences.

Nice To Haves

12+ years of experience in software engineering with significant time spent in management or director-level roles.
Deep experience with libfabric/OFI, UCX, verbs-style concepts, or specific interconnect technologies (Omni-Path, InfiniBand, RoCE).
Familiarity with HPC/AI communication libraries (MPI/SHMEM/NCCL/RCCL) and cluster-scale benchmarking and profiling.
Experience utilizing AI-augmented development tools to increase team efficiency and code quality.
Proven track record of meaningful contributions to major open-source systems projects (e.g., the Linux kernel).
Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead and grow a high-performance host software organization focused on systems-level programming and ecosystem integration.
Foster an environment of technical ownership where engineers are empowered to design, prototype, and productionize novel solutions.
Provide mentorship and career development for technical contributors, promoting a culture of continuous innovation and high-quality engineering.
Guide the team in leveraging modern development tools and AI-augmented workflows to accelerate development cycles and improve software reliability.
Lead the technical definition and delivery of the host software stack for future product generations, aligning software capabilities with hardware features and customer requirements.
Oversee the development of Linux kernel-mode drivers (e.g., netdev, RDMA, PCIe interfaces) with a focus on low-latency and high-throughput communication paths.
Direct the implementation of user-mode libraries and protocol state machines (e.g., libfabric/OFI providers, verbs-style semantics) that define wire behavior and hardware interface efficiency.
Ensure top-tier performance for AI/HPC frameworks by leading the integration and optimization of collective communication libraries (NCCL/RCCL), MPI/SHMEM, and broad support for various hardware technologies and configurations, such as ARM processor support, cloud-native components like Kubernetes network operators, etc.
Partner closely with hardware, firmware, and switch software teams to define system-level interfaces and ensure end-to-end performance and stability.
Represent Cornelis Networks in relevant open-source communities (Linux kernel, OpenFabrics, Ultra Ethernet, etc.) to drive upstreaming and ecosystem alignment.
Collaborate with Engineering Operations to ensure robust CI/CD, automated testing, and release engineering practices are seamlessly integrated into the development process.
Own the planning, prioritization, and execution of host software deliverables across multiple release cycles.
Drive root-cause analysis and resolution of complex, system-level issues across development and customer environments.
Lead technical investigations and establish internal best practices for performance tuning and debugging.