Network Engineer - Backbone (AI)

TL;DR

Network Engineer - Backbone (AI): Designing, deploying, and operating global backbone infrastructure for training and serving AI models with an accent on traffic engineering, BGP/IS-IS protocols, and network automation. Focus on building and managing hyperscale network hardware, optimizing performance for AI platforms, and developing the engineering team.

Location: Must be based in Palo Alto, CA

Salary: $180,000 - $440,000 USD

Company

hirify.global is an AI research company mission-driven to understand the universe and aid humanity through advanced engineering excellence.

What you will do

• Design, deploy, and operate a global backbone infrastructure for high-performance AI workloads.
• Lead and grow the network engineering team while directly contributing to core infrastructure development.
• Automate network deployments and customer impact mitigations using Python and Ansible.
• Manage and troubleshoot cloud VPCs and complex connected network hardware.
• Apply deep traffic engineering expertise to maximize backbone performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to scale infrastructure for future AI product needs.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience with backbone network hardware and protocols like MPLS and RSVP-TE in hyperscale environments.
• 5+ years of routing experience with BGP and IS-IS, including traffic engineering.
• 3+ years of Python scripting experience for infrastructure automation.
• 3+ years of experience managing and troubleshooting cloud VPCs and network hardware.
• Strong communication and prioritization skills in a flat, fast-paced organizational structure.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with Juniper, Cisco, and Arista hardware.
• Experience with AWS, GCP, and OCI cloud platforms.
• Proven capacity planning expertise for large networks.
• Success in on-call rotations and incident response for high-stakes systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance coverage.
• Access to 401(k) retirement plans.
• Equity compensation package.
• Life insurance and short/long-term disability coverage.
• Highly motivated, collaborative environment focused on engineering excellence.