DDN · 1 day ago
Principal Performance Architect
United States
Full-time
Remote
Lead/Staff
15+ years expDataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader in AI and high-performance data storage innovation. The Principal Performance Architect will drive end-to-end performance analysis and optimization for DDN's AI-native data intelligence platform, collaborating with various teams to enhance system performance and customer value.
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)Big DataData StorageEnterprise SoftwarePredictive Analytics
Responsibilities
Design and implement comprehensive performance instrumentation across the Infinia platform — from AI pipelines to storage backends
Develop and maintain end-to-end performance models that span applications (e.g., LLM inference, vector search), query engines, data pipelines, and NVMe-backed storage
Build and execute reproducible performance tests that simulate realistic AI and data-intensive workloads
Use advanced profiling and tracing tools (e.g., perf, eBPF, flamegraphs, custom telemetry) to identify and address latency hotspots, bandwidth bottlenecks, and concurrency inefficiencies
Drive performance regression testing into CI pipelines and track key performance metrics over time
Partner with component teams (I/O Path, Core Platform, Data Engine, and AI Applications) to deliver performance fixes and architectural recommendations
Work closely with hardware and storage teams to analyze I/O patterns on NVMe drives and optimize storage usage for real-world applications
Provide tuning guidance for AI/ML applications, vector databases, and orchestration layers to maximize system utilization and efficiency
Own the performance roadmap and ensure performance visibility across teams and stakeholders
Deliver clear, actionable performance summaries to engineering, product management, and field teams
Mentor engineers on best practices in profiling, benchmarking, and performance-aware development
Qualification
Required
15+ years of experience in systems performance engineering or low-level infrastructure development
Proven expertise in end-to-end performance debugging across distributed systems, from application logic down to I/O subsystems
Strong background in system-level tools (e.g., perf, ftrace, bpftrace, nvme-cli, or similar)
Deep understanding of NVMe, CPU and memory hierarchy, caching, thread scheduling, and Linux kernel internals
Experience optimizing compute- or data-intensive applications such as AI inference, search, or analytics
Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust and scripting languages such as Python or Bash
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially around technical reporting and architectural recommendations
Preferred
Familiarity with vector databases (e.g., FAISS, Milvus, Weaviate) and LLM inference pipelines
Experience with SPDK, RDMA, or high-performance I/O libraries
Exposure to storage telemetry, AI model performance tuning, or multi-tenant throughput optimization
Experience working in highly scaled distributed systems or HPC environments
Company
DDN
DDN (DataDirect Networks) is the world’s leading AI and data intelligence company, empowering organizations to maximize the value of their data with end-to-end HPC and AI-focused solutions.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
DDN has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (5)
2024 (3)
2023 (2)
2022 (4)
2021 (3)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$309.9MKey Investors
Blackstone Group
2025-01-09Private Equity· $300M
2002-01-02Series A· $9.9M
Leadership Team
Alex Bouzari
Chairman, Co-Founder and CEO
P
Paul Bloch
President and Founder
Recent News
Business Wire
2026-01-13
2026-01-06
2025-11-22
Company data provided by crunchbase