IT Networking Systems Engineer; Data Center

Overview

Hammerspace is a Data Platform that centralizes data logically into a unified namespace and allows for decentralized accelerated access.

Role Overview

We are seeking a high-level IT and Networking Engineer to serve as both the technical and strategic anchor for our data center operations. This role requires a tenured pro capable of managing high-speed NVIDIA/Mellanox fabrics and automated virtualization platforms while simultaneously driving long-term infrastructure and financial planning. You will be responsible for the full lifecycle of our hardware, the efficiency of our resource utilization, and the long-term technical and financial health of our data center footprint.

• Long-Term Strategic Planning:
  Drive 6+ month strategic planning for data center space, power, and cooling infrastructure.
• Utilization Monitoring:
  Maintain rigorous oversight of current power and space utilization to prevent capacity bottlenecks.
• Budgeting and Projection:
  Project future utilization trends to identify budget needs and maintain active control over infrastructure costs.

• Workload Analysis:
  Investigate server/network utilization under current workloads to identify inefficiencies and drive more efficient resource use.
• Strategic Buildouts:
  Design new server buildouts based on current deficiencies or to maintain a performance balance while controlling costs.
• Internal
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Work with various internal groups to establish future utilization needs and ensure infrastructure growth aligns with company goals.
• Procurement Optimization:
  Facilitate batch and bulk procurement processes to ensure optimal pricing on hardware and services.
• Security Considerations:
  Design with reasonable lowest impact security that mitigates security concerns across physical, network, internal, etc.
• Security Considerations:
  Design security policies and controls that balance reasonable protections (physical, network, host, etc) against workload and agility impacts

• Virtualization Management:
  Administer VMware (ESXi) and Proxmox environments, including virtual switching, V-motion, data store, and virtual host management.
• High-Speed Networking:
  Oversee the architecture and implementation of high-speed networking (200G/400G+) using NVIDIA and Mellanox hardware.
• Network Protocols:
  Configure and troubleshoot core protocols including BGP, ECMP, Spanning Tree, SNMP, VPN, DNS, NTP, etc.
• Hardware Lifecycle:
  Manage the physical deployment, firmware updates, and troubleshooting of Dell servers (iDRAC, RAID controllers, and network cards).
• Automation & IaC:
  Maintain and expand infrastructure-as-code using Ansible and Terraform.
• Data Integrity:
  Own and execute onsite and offsite backup strategies and systems

• Relationship Management:
  Act as the primary point of contact for DC Providers to ensure service levels are consistently met.
• Design Oversight:
  Ensure DC operators provide optimized power and cooling designs that meet technical requirements while balancing scaling/flexibility vs cost considerations.
• Physical Operations:
  Establish monitoring procedures to track physical parameters of DC ops (Power utilization, Cooling, per rack design limits, per area design limits, blast radius effects, etc) provide and execute plans covering how to handle out of tolerance situations.
• Rack design:
  Design and implement best-practice rack layouts that consider cable types, power/cooling needs, physical device mass and other considerations in an environment with varying levels of power density.
• Experience with 35KW+/rack layout

• Networking & Systems
  • High-Speed Fabric:
    Expert knowledge of 200G/400G+ links and high-performance interconnects.
  • L3 Routing:
    Advanced understanding of BGP and ECMP for optimized traffic flow.
  • Hypervisors:
    Proficiency in VMware (ESXi) and Proxmox.
  • Linux Administration:
    Advanced mastery of Linux environments (e.g., Debian, CentOS, or RHEL-based distributions).
  • Containerization:
    Experience with LXC containers and automated provisioning.

• Automation & Development
  • IaC Tools:
    Mastery of Ansible and Terraform for infrastructure deployment.
  • Scripting:
    Strong proficiency in Python and Bash for automation and custom monitoring tools.
  • Version Control:
    Experience with various source control and CI/CD workflows.

• Hardware & Physical Ops
  • Server Ecosystem:
    Deep knowledge of Dell iDRAC, Life Cycle Controllers, RAID management, and other vendor-diverse hardware considerations.
  • Physical Maintenance:
    Ability to perform hands-on troubleshooting, rack management, and cable mapping.

• Work Planning/Leadership
  • Work Orchestration:
    Direct team members in work planning and orchestration in project execution (e.g. bulk server installs, inventory activities, decomm/cleanup activities, etc.)
  • Knowledge Sharing:
    Mentor junior team members in developing their ongoing DC operations skillset

• Work Location/Type
  • Work Location:
    
    Must be willing to work up to…