[Hiring] Senior Engineer, Inference Data Plane @DigitalOcean

Role Description

DigitalOcean is expanding its AI Infrastructure layer to support the next generation of AI-driven applications. We are seeking a Senior Engineer 2 to play a key role in our AI Infrastructure Control Plane team. This team's mission is to orchestrate and operate compute fleet, storage and networking for running AI workloads - inference, training, fine-tuning - at scale. In this high-impact role, you will be a primary technical architect and leader, responsible for building the foundational control plane services that power our large Gen AI model hosting infrastructure.

This is a hands-on role, requiring you to be able to develop high quality software while availing of all the productivity boosts granted by the latest AI coding agents. You will bridge the gap between high-scale distributed systems and specialized AI inference orchestration to ensure our global platform remains simple, reliable, and accessible for developers building the next generation of AI applications.

What You’ll Do:

• Architectural Leadership: Drive the design and development of distributed services within our AI Infrastructure ecosystem, including complex orchestration for LLM inference and hosting services. Your focus will be the control plane orchestration of compute, networking, and storage for AI workloads.
• System Design: Create, refine, and assess system design proposals for our high-scale, multi-tenant inference cloud ecosystem, ensuring they meet rigorous standards for availability and resiliency.
• Operational Excellence: Lead the operational strategy for critical services, defining SLOs and leveraging advanced observability to maintain platform health in a high-scale environment.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner deeply with Product Management, TPMs, and Engineering Management peers to align technical roadmaps with business priorities.
• Strategic Growth: Work on new architecture initiatives that enable fleet optimization and help evolve DigitalOcean into a market leader for AI-native networking and infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Deep experience with distributed and cloud services, including messaging systems, databases, and infrastructure as code, observability, and security.
• Advanced knowledge of cloud networking (VPCs, Load Balancers), containerization (Kubernetes), and cloud storage (block, object, NFS).
• Proven experience building AI/ML products, specifically focusing on Gen AI platforms, LLM hosting, and inference workflows.
• Significant experience running customer-facing, high-availability services across multiple regions.
• Experience integrating and building with open-source software and a bias for technical ownership.
• Expert proficiency in GoLang or Python and familiarity with gRPC for service-to-service communication.

Requirements

• Compensation Range: $139,200.00 - $174,000.00
• This is a remote role
• JR: 2026-7623
• #LI-Remote

Benefits

• Competitive array of benefits to support employee well-being, including an Employee Assistance Program and flexible time off policy.
• Reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education.
• Access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses for continued growth and development.
• Bonus eligibility based on company and individual performance.
• Equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and participation in the Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Company Description

DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180-day period. This policy promotes better role-candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.