Crusoe · San Francisco, CA

Senior Director, Network Engineering at Crusoe — San Francisco, CA

Full-timeSan Francisco, CAPosted 2026-07-16Apply on Ashby

Full job description

About the Role

Crusoe is building the network backbone for one of the largest AI compute platforms in the world. As Senior Director of Network Engineering, you will own the architecture, scale, and operation of the network that connects our GPU fleet and powers large-scale AI training and inference. You will lead a 40-person engineering organization —including 8 direct reports, mostly managers — set multi-year technical direction, and partner across compute, storage, security, and data center teams to keep our infrastructure fast, reliable, and ready for the next order of magnitude of growth. This role requires a leader who builds methodically, communicates with transparency, and drives results by deciding what matters most — not just building everything at once.

What You'll Be Working On:

  • Setting and driving the multi-year strategy and roadmap for Crusoe's network services across data center and cloud
  • Building, leading, and growing a team of network software engineers and architects focused on performance, reliability, and automation
  • Prioritizing ruthlessly across competing demands — determining what to build, what to defer, and communicating the reasoning clearly to engineering leadership and cross-functional partners
  • Architecting high-scale routing and segmentation using BGP, EVPN, VXLAN, and software-defined networking across a distributed, multi-region footprint
  • Optimizing east-west and north-south traffic to support AI/ML training, distributed compute, and demanding customer workloads
  • Owning network uptime and performance end to end, including proactive monitoring, incident response, and root-cause analysis
  • Partnering with security to implement network segmentation, DDoS mitigation, and compliance with data-sovereignty and privacy requirements

What You'll Bring to the Team:

  • 15+ years engineering and operating network services, with 8+ years leading network teams at a cloud provider, hyperscaler, or high-growth infrastructure company
  • Deep command of software-defined networking, white box switches, routing, switching, fabric architecture, TCP/IP, Ethernet, QoS, and BGP
  • Proven track record scaling data center and cloud networks for high-throughput, high-availability workloads
  • Hands-on experience with automation frameworks such as Ansible and
  • Terraform, and a bias toward automating provisioning and operations
  • A leadership style built on transparency–you communicate how your team is working, what's on track, and what's at risk without being asked
  • Results-driven and self-motivated, with the ability to drive building cloud networking software while staying technically credible with the engineers you lead
  • Clear strategic judgment paired with the discipline to build methodically rather than chase every problem at once
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field

Bonus Points:

  • Experience offloading network services into smart NICs or working with programmable fabrics
  • Familiarity with Kubernetes networking, overlay networks, and service meshes
  • Experience building networks for GPU-dense or AI-specific environments
  • Active collaboration with open-source networking communities

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation and equity packages
  • Restricted Stock Units
  • Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
  • Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
  • Employer contributions to HSA account
  • Paid parental leave
  • Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
  • Professional development & tuition reimbursement
  • Mental health & wellness support
  • Commuter benefits (parking & transit)
  • Cell phone stipend
  • 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
  • Volunteer time off
  • Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
  • Daily meals allowance
  • Additional perks & programs specific to location

Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $325,000 - $360,000 + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicants knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Required skills

  • electrical
  • kubernetes
  • cross-functional
  • machine learning
  • driving
  • artificial intelligence
  • terraform
  • ansible
  • next.js
  • electrical engineering