Principal Front-End Network Engineer

Nscale

4d

About The Position

The Network Operations and Engineering teams at Nscale operate some of the most demanding networking environments in the industry, supporting large-scale AI GPU clusters where network performance directly impacts customer outcomes. We’re looking for a Senior Principal Front End Network Engineer – AI Infrastructure to provide technical leadership across Nscale’s front-end networking domain. This role is focused on owning the reliability, scalability, and long-term evolution of our high-performance Ethernet front-end networks. These networks support inference traffic, cluster management, data ingress/egress, shared storage connectivity, long-haul circuits, and carrier handoffs. You will operate as a senior technical authority, influencing architecture, standards, and operational practices across teams while tackling the most complex front-end network challenges in the platform.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in network engineering, with deep focus on hyperscale data centre, cloud, or AI infrastructure networking
• Expert-level operational and architectural experience with large-scale Ethernet data centre fabrics (leaf-spine / Clos topologies)
• Strong hands-on expertise with Nvidia (Cumulus), Arista(EOS / Etherlink) and/or Nokia(7220 IXR, 7250 IXR, 7750 SR series) platforms in production environments at scale
• Deep understanding of modern data centre routing and control planes (BGP, OSPF, ECMP, EVPN-VXLAN)
• Proven experience with long-haul circuits, DCI, and optical transport (dark fiber, carrier Ethernet, coherent optics, ZR/ZR+)
• Strong background in storage networking over Ethernet and shared storage connectivity at hyperscale
• Demonstrated ability to debug and resolve complex cross-layer issues spanning hardware, optics, routing, and application layers
• Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives across teams and influence strategy without direct authority
• A systems-level mindset, balancing performance, reliability, scalability, and operational cost at the highest level

Nice To Haves

• Extensive experience with Nvidia, Arista or Nokia platforms at hyperscale or large AI infrastructure scale
• Deep familiarity with front-end network design patterns for massive AI clusters (inference, management, and storage tiers)
• Experience designing or operating large-scale DCI / long-haul optical or carrier networks
• Strong automation and tooling experience (Python, Ansible, validation frameworks, telemetry pipelines)
• Prior experience influencing platform or infrastructure strategy at significant scale

Responsibilities

• Owning the technical direction and operational strategy for Nscale’s front-end AI infrastructure networks at the highest level
• Designing, reviewing, and evolving large-scale Ethernet leaf-spine / Clos fabric architectures (including Arista and Nokia platforms) to support future growth, inference workloads, and storage requirements
• Acting as the senior-most escalation point for the most complex front-end network incidents, guiding deep technical investigations and systemic fixes
• Driving cross-team and cross-functional initiatives to improve fabric reliability, performance predictability, observability, and operational maturity at scale
• Defining standards for hardware configuration, routing, congestion management, firmware lifecycle management, automation, and change safety across Nvidia Cumulus, Arista EOS and Nokia platforms
• Partnering with SRE, Compute Platform, Storage, and Network Architecture teams to influence end-to-end system design, including long-haul/DCI circuits and storage network integration
• Mentoring senior and principal-level network engineers, raising the bar for operational rigor and technical excellence across the organization
• Driving measurable improvements in uptime, latency consistency, capacity efficiency, and incident reduction for front-end services

Benefits

• Highly competitive package (base + equity) with reviews every 12 months.
• Join the fastest-growing tech startup, your chance to push boundaries, collaborate with brilliant minds, and make your mark on cutting-edge AI.
• Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by trying new things, leading, challenging the status quo, and owning your impact, always with our full support.
• medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed