Sr Systems Engineering Lead (Infrastructure)

Position: Senior Systems Engineering Lead (Infrastructure)
Location: NYC (Onsite)
Duration: Full Time

Key points to look for — must have

• 10+ years building/scaling low-level distributed systems
• Strong Infrastructure / SRE / Systems Engineering background
• Hands-on virtualization: Firecracker, QEMU, or Cloud Hypervisor
• Strong distributed storage experience — ideally Ceph
• Deep Linux kernel/filesystem knowledge
• Hands-on with eBPF, cgroups, namespaces
• Strong I/O tuning, filesystem performance & storage reliability at scale
• Experience building zero-to-one infrastructure
• Staff-level technical leadership while remaining hands-on/IC
• Proven ability to drive architecture and technical direction
• Experience with production reliability, performance & operational excellence
• Strong mentoring/influencing of senior engineers
• Comfortable in a fast-paced startup environment
• Prestigiohigh-caliber engineering background is strongly preferred

We need someone with 10+ years of experience building and scaling low-level distributed systems who has delivered meaningful, zero-to-one infrastructure at a prestigious organization. You should be comfortable working in a fast-paced, early-stage startup environment (in-person 5 days/week in NYC) and have a track record of materially impacting the trajectory of engineering teams and infrastructure at scale. Bonus points if you've found or been early at a startup that grew into a recognized leader, or have publications, patents, or conference talks to your name.

Client helps companies improve their experience with GitHub Actions by enabling them to run their GitHub Actions substantially faster and more cheaply, and by providing rich analytics about their workflows.

Multiple openings and a very responsive hiring manager, so submissions actually get looked at quickly. Great fit for infra/SRE background.

The Staff Systems Engineer

We are looking for a Staff Engineer to help set the technical direction for our core infrastructure, which is critical for the product. This role operates at the organization level, owning the architecture, solving complex systems problems, and driving initiatives that shape how the organization grows, performs, and remains reliable.

You will be one of the key technical authorities and a force multiplier. You’ll raise engineering standards across the team, mentor senior talent, and own production outcomes.

This is a high-impact, hands-on technical leader role.

What you’ll be doing

• Own and drive the architectural direction for critical infrastructure platforms.
• Translate business and product strategy into long-term technical roadmaps and execution plans.
• Accountable for production outcomes, including reliability, performance, and operational excellence.
• Mentor senior engineers and act as a force multiplier.
• Operate effectively in ambiguous problem spaces where both the problem and the solution need to be defined.

You’re a good fit if you have

• Deep familiarity with virtualization technologies such as Firecracker, QEMU, or Cloud Hypervisor, and an understanding of the trade-offs between them.
• Experience with distributed storage systems (e.g., Ceph) and a strong grasp of low-level file system performance, I/O tuning, and storage reliability at scale.
• Comfort working at the kernel and filesystem level: experience with eBPF, cgroups, namespaces, or similar Linux primitives.
• Track record of leading through influence and shaping technical direction while operating as an individual contributor.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex systems-level concepts to engineers, leadership, and non-technical stakeholders.