[Hiring] Staff Engineer, Network Infrastructure @DigitalOcean

Role Description

DigitalOcean is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to help design and build the next generation of software powering our global network infrastructure. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, networking, distributed systems, and hardware acceleration. You will build the automation, orchestration, and infrastructure software that enables DigitalOcean to scale its network reliably while exploring new architectures using Data Processing Units (DPUs), SmartNICs, and programmable network infrastructure.

You will work closely with network, infrastructure, and hardware engineering teams to turn complex networking and infrastructure requirements into scalable software. This includes:

• Network provisioning and device lifecycle management
• Telemetry, automated remediation, and software-driven network and DPU orchestration

As a Staff Engineer, you will have impact beyond your own code, establishing technical direction, driving architectural decisions, and identifying opportunities to move functionality into software and hardware accelerators.

A key part of the role is the ability to turn ambiguous technical problems into clear proposals and executable plans. You will be expected to author:

• RFCs
• Architecture and design documents
• Technical proposals
• Other project documentation needed to establish alignment and drive complex initiatives from concept through implementation

Qualifications

• Significant experience designing and building production software systems at scale
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including distributed systems, API design, concurrency, testing, observability, and system reliability
• Strong programming experience in one or more languages such as Go, Python, or C++
• Experience building automation, orchestration, or infrastructure platforms
• Strong understanding of networking, including TCP/IP, BGP, EVPN/VXLAN, VLANs, routing, switching, and network telemetry
• Experience working with network devices, network automation frameworks, APIs, or vendor SDKs
• Experience designing systems that operate safely in highly available, production environments
• Ability to understand complex infrastructure problems and simplify them into scalable software architectures
• Strong technical writing skills, with demonstrated ability to produce RFCs, architecture/design documents, technical proposals, project plans, and other documentation required to drive complex engineering projects
• Ability to take ambiguous problems and turn them into clear technical proposals, documented requirements, architectural decisions, and actionable implementation plans
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence technical decisions across engineering teams
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a technical leader without relying on organizational authority

Requirements

• Experience in one or more of the following is particularly valuable:
• Building software that uses DPUs for networking, security, storage, virtualization, or infrastructure offload
• Designing DPU orchestration, provisioning, lifecycle management, or configuration systems
• Experience with programmable data planes, eBPF, P4, or other technologies used to implement network functionality in hardware or accelerated environments
• Experience integrating DPUs or SmartNICs into cloud, datacenter, or virtualization infrastructure
• At the Staff level, you will be expected to:
• Own technical direction for significant areas of network and infrastructure software
• Define the software architecture required to integrate emerging technologies such as DPUs and programmable infrastructure into DigitalOcean's production environment
• Identify systemic infrastructure problems and define solutions that span multiple teams and infrastructure layers
• Make architectural decisions that balance scalability, reliability, performance, hardware capabilities, operational complexity, and engineering velocity
• Lead ambiguous, high-impact initiatives from problem definition through design, implementation, deployment, and operation
• Own the technical documentation and RFC process for major initiatives, ensuring that architecture, requirements, alternatives, tradeoffs, dependencies, risks, and decisions are clearly documented
• Actively leverage AI tooling to amplify engineering impact and delivery speed
• Create leverage by developing platforms, abstractions, and automation that enable other engineers to move faster
• Anticipate operational and scalability challenges before they become production problems
• Evaluate emerging hardware and software technologies and determine where they can provide meaningful advantages to DigitalOcean's infrastructure
• Raise the technical capabilities of the broader engineering organization through mentoring, design reviews, technical documentation, and technical leadership
• Build strong partnerships across Network Infrastructure, Compute, Storage, Availability, Security, and Hardware/Platform Engineering

Benefits

• Competitive array of benefits to support employee well-being
• 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 for eligible employees

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.