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VAST Data is building the enterprise data platform for the AI era, providing infrastructure to capture, catalog, refine, and protect massive datasets for real-time analysis and AI training. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be embedded directly within strategic, large-scale customer environments, serving as the technical face of VAST Engineering on the ground.
You will own the technical success of strategic customer deployments from design through production operation. Your day-to-day involves collaborating globally with the engineering team on hotfixes and roadmap updates, working side-by-side with customer architects and developers to optimize infrastructure, debug complex issues, and develop solutions for their largest workloads. You will translate real-world operational insights into precise technical requirements for core development teams, write custom API endpoints and automation tools to unblock critical workflows, and act as an internal advocate ensuring customer needs are prioritized in the product roadmap.
Required expertise includes deep knowledge of distributed systems, high-performance file systems, and storage protocols; strong understanding of high-throughput networking fabrics (InfiniBand, RoCE, 100GbE+); advanced Linux systems architecture and kernel mechanics; and proficiency in Python and C/C++ for reading, debugging, and contributing to enterprise-grade codebases. You should have 5+ years in highly technical engineering roles such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Resident Engineer, or Senior Systems Engineer with a track record of customer-facing collaboration.
Desirable experience includes operating large-scale AI training environments or HPC clusters, working with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes), and modern AI/ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow). You must demonstrate composure under pressure, exceptional communication skills to explain complex technical concepts to executives and business constraints to developers, strong organizational abilities, and a continuous learning mindset. The role requires up to 25% travel to customer locations.
