Staff Infrastructure Engineer
About Us
Vast.ai’s cloud powers AI projects and businesses all over the world. We are democratizing and decentralizing AI computing—reshaping our future for the benefit of humanity.
We are a growing and highly motivated team dedicated to an ambitious technical plan. Our structure is flat, our ambitions are bold, and leadership is earned by shipping excellence.
We seek engineers with strong intrinsic drive, a true passion for advancing the state of the art, and a mix of architecture, coding, and communication skills.
LOCATION: On-site at our office in San Francisco or Westwood, Los Angeles.
About the Role
As a Senior Infrastructure Engineer, you will help design and scale the core systems that power Vast.ai’s global GPU marketplace.
You’ll work closely with our founders and core engineering team to extend the underlying compute infrastructure — from GPU provisioning and scheduling to billing, orchestration, and marketplace dynamics.
We’re looking for someone who has previously built large-scale infrastructure platforms — systems with similarities to Vast.ai, or distributed compute orchestration frameworks.
Full-time · On-site at either our SF or LA offices
Tech Stack
Python, C++, PostgreSQL, Linux, Docker, KVM, Redis, Terraform, AWS, REST/gRPC APIs
Ideal Experience
- Distributed Systems: Experience building high-throughput backend systems or compute clouds
- Compute Orchestration: Familiarity with Docker, or custom scheduling frameworks
- GPU Infrastructure: Understanding of GPU provisioning, driver management, and workload scheduling
- Billing & Metering: Implemented or integrated usage-based billing and account credit systems
- Marketplace Dynamics: Knowledge of dynamic pricing, spot instances, or supply-demand balancing mechanisms
- Security & Multi-Tenancy: Experience designing secure, multi-tenant systems in cloud environments
- Programming: Strong programming skills in Python and C++; ability to write performant, maintainable, well-architected code
- Database Expertise: Comfortable designing schemas and queries for large-scale data systems (PostgreSQL preferred)
Bonus points for:
- Experience with GPU security, virtualization, or zero-trust compute isolation
- Prior startup experience or end-to-end product ownership
Key Responsibilities
- Improve the backend systems that power Vast.ai’s compute marketplace
- Integrate GPU provider onboarding, usage tracking, billing, and orchestration APIs
- Develop scalable infrastructure for workload scheduling and resource management
- Optimize pricing and marketplace logic for efficiency and transparency
- Benchmark, profile, and harden systems for performance, reliability, and fault tolerance
- Collaborate with product and infrastructure teams to shape the future of decentralized compute
Interview Process (≈ 1 week)
After submitting your application, our technical team reviews your credentials. If selected, you’ll proceed through the following stages:
- 15 min – Initial screening with member of your future team (virtual)
- 40 min – Systems and architectures (virtual)
- 1 hour – LLM-assisted coding assessment (virtual)
- 2 hours – Meet and greet with coding assessment (on-site)
Annual Salary Range
$180,000 – $300,000 + equity + benefits
Vast.ai is hiring senior, staff and principal experience levels with compensation commensurate with background, experience, and potential.
Benefits
- Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and life insurance
- 401(k) with company match
- Meaningful early-stage equity
- Onsite meals, snacks, and close collaboration with founders and tech leads
- Ambitious, fast-paced startup culture where initiative is rewarded