DDN - Staff Engineer - Distributed File Systems

About the job: We are seeking a Staff Engineer - Performance with strong expertise in data path and I/O performance for large-scale distributed file systems. This role focuses on analyzing, optimizing, and improving performance across the storage stack, from low-level code paths to system-wide behavior at scale. You will work closely with architects and cross-functional teams to investigate complex performance issues, implement optimizations, and ensure high throughput and low latency in distributed systems. This role emphasizes hands-on technical contributions, performance tuning, and data-driven decision-making to improve overall system efficiency and reliability. Key Responsibilities: - Contribute to the performance design of data path and I/O components in distributed file systems - Perform performance analysis, troubleshooting, and optimization of large-scale, high-performance file systems - Implement performance-aware improvements across CPU, memory, storage, and network layers - Optimize performance-critical file system code, primarily in C++ - Apply best practices for performance measurement, profiling, benchmarking, and regression detection - Investigate and resolve complex system-level performance issues - Collaborate with architects and senior engineers to incorporate performance considerations into system design - Work with cross-functional teams to validate and meet performance goals across the stack - Participate in design reviews with a focus on performance implications - Share knowledge and support peers in adopting effective performance engineering practices Requirements: - Accountable and highly motivated with solid people skills - 10+ years' experience system software development and complex problem resolution. - Deep understanding of distributed file systems and scale-out storage architectures - Expert-level knowledge of data path and I/O path design and optimization - Strong proficiency in C++ with extensive experience in performance-critical code - Proven expertise in performance measurement techniques, including profiling, tracing, benchmarking, and custom tooling - Strong foundation in distributed systems principles, including scalability, concurrency, and fault tolerance - Demonstrated experience optimizing file system or storage system code for performance at scale - Experience with high-performance, high-scale-out file systems in production environments What Success Looks Like: - Consistently delivers measurable improvements in throughput, latency, and scalability - Identifies and mitigates performance bottlenecks early in the development lifecycle - Produces reliable performance analysis that informs design and implementation decisions - Contributes to stable, repeatable performance testing and regression detection practices - Effectively collaborates with team members to meet performance goals across components - Builds and applies strong performance engineering expertise to improve code and system quality