Senior Principal Network Development Engineer (IC5) – Backend NIC Qualification & NPI (OCI AI2 [...]

We are seeking a Senior Principal Network Development Engineer (IC5) to lead backend NIC qualification and New Product Introduction (NPI) for next‑generation networking platforms supporting GPU‑ and accelerator‑based clusters. This role is critical to enabling OCI’s AI superclusters by ensuring NIC technologies meet stringent requirements for RDMA performance, cluster scale, and workload isolation.

As an IC5, you will operate as a technical leader owning complex, ambiguous problem spaces end‑to‑end. You will drive cross‑organizational initiatives spanning hardware vendors, OCI compute and networking, and data center operations, while influencing architecture and long‑term roadmap decisions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 8–12+ years of experience in networking, systems engineering, or hardware validation in large‑scale distributed environments
• Deep expertise in NIC architecture and advanced features (RDMA/RoCE, congestion control, SR‑IOV, queueing, offloads)
• Strong understanding of distributed systems networking for AI/ML workloads (e.g., collective communication patterns, east‑west traffic scaling)
• Advanced knowledge of Linux networking stack and kernel‑level debugging
• Proven experience leading hardware qualification and/or NPI efforts in data center or cloud environments
• Strong debugging skills across hardware, firmware, driver, and system layers
• Proficiency in automation and tooling (Python, Bash, or similar)
• Experience with performance benchmarking and traffic analysis in high‑scale environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AI/HPC networking (e.g., RoCEv2, InfiniBand concepts, GPU cluster networking)
• Familiarity with distributed training frameworks (e.g., NCCL) and their network behavior
• Knowledge of PCIe, NUMA, and GPU/accelerator interconnect considerations
• Exposure to SmartNICs, DPUs, or offload‑driven architectures
• Experience building validation pipelines integrated with CI/CD systems

Responsibilities

• Own the end‑to‑end qualification strategy and execution for backend NICs supporting OCI AI clusters (RDMA/RoCE‑based fabrics)
• Lead NIC NPI for AI infrastructure, from early silicon bring‑up through fleet‑wide deployment across OCI regions
• Define validation methodologies for high‑performance, low‑latency distributed training workloads (e.g., GPU collectives, east‑west traffic patterns)
• Drive deep performance characterization and tuning of NICs in AI cluster environments (latency, throughput, tail latency, congestion behavior)
• Partner with NIC and silicon vendors (e.g., NVIDIA/Mellanox, Broadcom, Intel) to resolve complex hardware/firmware issues and influence feature design
• Collaborate with OCI AI/ML platform, cluster networking, and host software teams to ensure optimal integration with drivers, kernel, and user‑space stacks
• Build and scale automated validation frameworks for continuous qualification across rapidly evolving AI hardware generations
• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) for systemic issues impacting cluster performance or reliability, driving fixes across stack layers
• Establish qualification gates, acceptance criteria, and release readiness processes aligned with OCI production standards
• Use production telemetry and workload insights to inform validation strategy and proactively identify risk areas
• Influence NIC and system architecture to meet the demands of next‑generation AI workloads

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Short‑term and long‑term disability insurance
• Life insurance and AD&D
• Supplemental life insurance for employee/spouse/child
• Health care and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Pre‑tax commuter and parking benefits
• 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan with company match
• Paid time off and flexible vacation policy
• Paid sick leave and paid parental leave
• Adoption assistance
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Financial planning and group legal services
• Voluntary benefits including auto, homeowner, and pet insurance

EEO and Accessibility Statement

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Oracle will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law. We’re committed to including people with disabilities at all stages of the employment process. If you require accessibility assistance or accommodation for a disability at any point, let us know by emailing accommodation-request_mb@oracle.com or by calling 1‑888‑404‑2494 in the United States.

Career Level - IC5