AI Cluster Architect

The role

The AI Cluster Architect designs large-scale GPU cluster architectures within fixed power and infrastructure limits. The role focuses on power-aware design, choosing the number of GPUs and fabric topology so the full stack of compute, storage, networking and cooling fits the power envelope.

What you will do

• Architect large-scale GPU clusters within fixed site power budgets, maximizing GPU density while reserving headroom for compute, storage and networking.
• Model and validate power consumption across the full cluster bill of materials and facility limits.
• Evaluate tradeoffs across InfiniBand, RoCE and SpectrumX fabrics and multi-plane, 2-tier, 3-tier and rail-optimized topologies.
• Determine network scale limits based on switch radix, link speed, topology and blocking requirements.
• Gather and maintain SKU-level power and thermal specifications for GPUs, NICs, switches, DPUs, storage and servers.
• Develop power-aware cluster configuration templates and capacity-planning models that scale across sites.
• Document architecture, design choices, tradeoff analyses and operational considerations.
• Provide guidance on future-proofing for next-gen GPUs, NICs and fabrics.
• Collaborate with vendors on novel fabric architectures for deployments of 100k+ GPUs.

Required qualifications

• 7+ years designing or building large-scale HPC, AI or hyperscale GPU clusters.
• Expert understanding of GPU and accelerator system design, including node topology, PCIe/NVLink/NVSwitch/ROCm and NIC-to-GPU affinity.
• Strong familiarity with InfiniBand, RoCE and SpectrumX networking, including multi-tier, multi-plane, Clos/dragonfly variants and large-radix switch design.
• Demonstrated experience modeling power draw and thermal characteristics of servers, GPUs, NICs, switches, optics and storage.
• Ability to design networks that maintain full non-blocking performance or intentionally introduce over/under-subscription, and understand the impact on workload performance.
• Proven ability to gather and analyze vendor SKU-level specifications and incorporate them into scalable cluster architectures.
• Experience balancing customer requirements for compute, storage and service density with overall GPU count.
• Strong documentation, communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Benefits

• 100% company-paid insurance premiums for employee medical, dental and vision plans.
• 401(k) plan matching 100% up to 4%, with immediate vesting.
• Professional development reimbursement of $2,500 each year.
• 11 holidays, paid time off accrual and rollover plan.
• Increased PTO at 3-year and 10-year anniversaries.
• 1 month paid sabbatical every 5 years.
• Anniversary bonus each year.
• $500 stipend for remote office setup in first year, and $400 each following year.
• Internet reimbursement up to $75 per month.
• Gym membership reimbursement up to $50 per month.
• Company-paid Wellable subscription.

Before you apply

• Vultr will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with applicable laws.
• Vultr will not conduct a background check until after an offer of employment has been extended and accepted.

About the company

Vultr makes high-performance cloud infrastructure easy to use, affordable and locally accessible, with 33 global cloud data center locations and customers in 185 countries. It is the world's largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company.