[Hiring] Network Architect @Runware

Role Description

As Network Architect, you'll own the design, build, and operation of the network that moves every inference request through Runware: the GPU cluster fabric inside our data centers, the backbone and edge that deliver results to customers, and the cloud and hybrid connectivity that ties partner capacity into one platform. Runware's product is latency. The network is where a large share of that latency, and of our cost per request, is decided, and today there is no single owner for it. You'll be that owner.

This is a senior, hands-on architecture role with significant authority and no direct reports to start. You'll report to Risto Haukioja, Head of AI Infrastructure. You'll set the network strategy, design and build the systems yourself, define how they are operated and capacity-planned, and lead through design authority across Infrastructure, Platform, and ML Engineering.

What you'll do:

• Own the network architecture end to end.
• Define the target architecture and multi-year roadmap for Runware's data center fabric, backbone and edge, and cloud and hybrid connectivity.
• Make design decisions that trade off latency, throughput, cost, and resilience.
• Design and build the GPU cluster fabric.
• Architect spine-leaf fabrics for multi-node inference and training: 400G/800G Ethernet, RoCEv2 and InfiniBand, lossless transport, congestion control, and topology choices.
• Deliver inference to customers fast and reliably.
• Own the backbone and edge: multi-region interconnect, transit and peering strategy, anycast and traffic steering, DDoS and edge security posture.
• Connect cloud, bare metal, and partner capacity into one platform.
• Design VPC, VPN, and private interconnect across hyperscalers, bare-metal providers, and colocation sites.
• Build network operations, not just networks.
• Define how the network is monitored, changed, and repaired.
• Run capacity planning.
• Build models that forecast bandwidth, port, and interconnect needs from product growth.
• Automate the network.
• Treat network configuration as code: IaC, intent-based provisioning, automated validation and rollback.
• Accelerate your own output with AI.
• Use AI tools throughout your work and set the standard for the wider infrastructure team.
• Lead through design authority.
• Set network standards, review designs, mentor engineers, and define the hiring plan.
• Own vendor and carrier relationships.
• Evaluate and select hardware, optics, carriers, and interconnect partners.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in network engineering and architecture.
• At least 5 years as the design authority for large-scale production networks.
• Hands-on experience designing, configuring, and troubleshooting networks.
• Deep expertise in modern data center networking.
• Strong backbone and edge experience.
• Cloud and hybrid networking across at least two hyperscalers.
• Experience designing and running network operations.
• Proven capacity planning skills.
• Network automation as a working practice.
• Experience leading high-performance engineering teams.
• Strong ownership and comfort in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment.
• Based in, or with full working overlap with, US Pacific time.

Requirements

• Experience networking large GPU clusters for AI inference or training.
• Hands-on with modern network operating systems and disaggregated hardware.
• Experience with Ultra Ethernet, 800G and 1.6T optics.
• Experience running peering and transit for a latency-sensitive product.
• Experience with eBPF, DPDK, SmartNICs/DPUs, or kernel-bypass networking.
• Prior work at a startup or scale-up where you built the network function from zero.
• Public contributions: RFCs, open-source network tooling, conference talks, or published post-mortems.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off: vacation, sick days, public holidays.
• Meaningful stock options: share in the upside you create.
• Flexible hours: own your schedule outside core collaboration blocks.
• Family leave: paid maternity, paternity, and caregiver time.
• Company retreats: twice-yearly gatherings in inspiring locations.