Sr/Staff Lustre Engineer

What you’ll do

Contribute to Lustre architecture and lead implementation of new features across core subsystems including MDS/OSS, LDLM, DNE, DoM, FLD, layout, snapshot, quota, security, and recovery

Write high-performance, production-grade code across the Lustre kernel module, user-space utilities, and supporting libraries

Own the full development lifecycle for major features, from design and coding through testing, performance tuning, and upstream patch submission

Improve scalability for multi-petabyte Lustre environments, including metadata performance, I/O path optimization, and integration with modern interconnects and storage fabrics

Modernize Lustre internals through kernel API updates, locking improvements, RDMA enhancements, and cloud/container-oriented capabilities

Prototype and evaluate emerging technologies such as NVMe-oF, CXL, and other next-generation storage approaches for potential Lustre integration

Strengthen regression, stress, and performance validation using tools such as IOR, mdtest, fio, and custom Lustre test tooling

Perform deep code-level performance analysis using Lustre tracing tools, perf , lockstat , and kernel profilers

Work closely with Principal Engineers, hardware teams, and application owners to translate real workload needs into practical Lustre improvements

Mentor other developers and contribute design docs, technical guides, and engineering reviews

What we’re looking for

7+ years of progressive, hands-on Lustre software development experience

A strong track record of meaningful contributions to the Lustre codebase in production or open-source environments

Demonstrated success designing, implementing, and upstreaming Lustre features that made it into major releases

Deep understanding of Lustre internals, including MDS/OSS architecture, LDLM locking and recovery, journaling, DNE, DoM, FLD, layout, quota, and security

Expert-level C programming and strong Linux kernel development experience

Strong knowledge of distributed systems, parallel file systems, and high-performance I/O

Experience with Lustre build, development, and debugging tooling such as lctl , llstat , strace , perf , and kernel tracers

Python and/or Bash skills for tooling and automation

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field

Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts effectively

Nice to have

7+ years in HPC or storage software development

Visible contributions to the Lustre open-source community, including accepted patches, LUG participation, or public technical talks

Experience running or developing Lustre in cloud environments such as AWS FSx for Lustre, Azure Lustre, or custom cloud deployments

Familiarity with adjacent systems such as Ceph, DAOS, BeeGFS, WekaIO, or GPFS

Exposure to RDMA, NVMe-oF, CXL, computational storage, or AI/ML I/O workloads

Conference presentations, technical publications, or other public engineering contributions

You’ll likely be a strong fit if you…

Have built inside Lustre itself, not just around it

Enjoy solving hard kernel, performance, and distributed systems problems

Care about code quality, upstream contribution, and long-term architectural impact

Want to work on infrastructure that operates at real scale under real performance constraints

This role is probably not the right fit if you…

Have mainly supported or administered Lustre rather than developed it

Come from general storage or kernel backgrounds without clear Lustre code contribution history

Prefer high-level application engineering over low-level systems and kernel work