Software Engineer, Cluster Orch; SUNK

About The Role

As part of the Cluster Orchestration team, you will play a key role in advancing Core Weave’s orchestration platform including SUNK (Slurm on Kubernetes) and beyond, our Kubernetes-native foundation that powers AI training and inference s is an opportunity to help shape one of the most critical layers of the AI cloud: ensuring workloads run seamlessly, reliably, and efficiently across massive GPU clusters.

By building the systems that eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks and create new orchestration capabilities, you will directly empower customers to innovate faster and push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI.

As a Staff Engineer (IC5), you will be a technical leader shaping the long-term strategy for Core Weave’s orchestration platform. You’ll define architectural direction, own critical parts of the orchestration platform and other managed services, and drive cross-org initiatives in scheduling, quota enforcement, and scaling ’ll mentor senior engineers, establish org-wide best practices in reliability and observability, and ensure Core Weave’s orchestration layer evolves to meet the demands of next-generation AI workloads.

• 8–12 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Proven track record designing and operating large-scale distributed systems in production.
• Deep expertise in Slurm/Kubernetes internals and cloud-native development.
• Advanced proficiency in Go and distributed systems design.
• Experience setting technical direction and influencing cross-team architecture.
• Ability to mentor senior engineers and elevate organizational standards.

• Familiarity with orchestration and workflow technologies such as Ray, Kubeflow, Kueue, Istio, Knative, or Argo Workflows
• Experience with distributed workloads, GPU-based applications, or ML pipelines.
• Knowledge of scheduling concepts like quota enforcement, pre-emption, and scaling strategies.
• Exposure to reliability practices including SLOs, alarms, and post-incident reviews.
• Experience with AI infrastructure and workloads (ML training, inference, or HPC).

• You love defining long-term architecture for systems at global scale.
• You’re curious about orchestration beyond SUNK and how to evolve it for next-generation AI.
• You’re an expert at mentorship, architecture, and operational excellence across teams.
• You thrive on solving problems that balance cost, performance, and reliability in high-demand environments.

The base salary range for this role is $207,000 to $275,000. The starting salary will be determined based on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location. We strive for both market alignment and internal equity when determining compensation. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package includes a discretionary bonus, equity awards, and a comprehensive benefits program (all based on eligibility).

The range we’ve posted represents the typical compensation range for this role. To determine actual compensation, we review the market rate for each candidate which can include a variety of factors. These include qualifications, experience, interview performance, and location.

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a variety of benefits to support your needs. The benefits below reflect our US-based offerings; for roles in other locations, benefits vary and are shared during the hiring process. These include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance - 100% paid for by Core Weave
• Company-paid Life Insurance
• Voluntary supplemental life insurance
• Short and long-term disability insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Health Savings Account
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Ability to Participate in Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)
• Mental Wellness Benefits through Spring Health
• Family-Forming support provided by Carrot
• Paid Parental Leave
• Flexible, full-service childcare support with Kinside
• 401(k) with a generous employer match
• Flexible PTO
• Catered lunch each day in our office and data center locations
• A casual work environment
• A work culture focused on innovative disruption

California Applicants

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