Staff Networking Platform Engineer, Infrastructure

About GroqInference is the engine that powers AI, and Groq was built from the silicon up to deliver the world's fastest inference at scale. We pioneered the LPU—the first processor designed specifically for AI inference—and are transforming that innovation into a global cloud platform powering production AI workloads.
With the capital, infrastructure, and team to execute, we're uniquely positioned to define the next era of AI infrastructure. The opportunity is massive, and it's still wide open. Now let's go build it!
MissionWe’re looking for a network engineer with deep data center and Kubernetes networking experience to own networking across GroqMetal’s management plane and tenant clusters.
You will own network architecture, configuration, security, and production operations—from host and cluster networking through data center fabrics to edge peering and interconnects. You’ll manage changes through fabric managers, automation, and GitOps, backed by a detailed understanding of the protocols, packet paths, and failure behavior underneath them.
You’ll turn customer connectivity, isolation, and performance requirements into managed platform capabilities. Success means customers can provision and use networking reliably, tenant boundaries are demonstrably enforced, and network changes and failures can be diagnosed and resolved without reconstructing the system by hand.
Location: This role will be based in one of our three hiring hubs: the Dallas, San Francisco, or New York City area. The person hired for this role must be based in one of these three areas. You’ll have the flexibility to work remotely while we establish our local Groq office, with the expectation that this role will transition to onsite once the office opens.
Responsibilities & opportunities in this role

• Networking product capabilities: Translate customer connectivity, isolation, access, and performance requirements into supported platform features. Define how those features are requested, provisioned, changed, observed, and removed throughout their lifecycle.
• Tenant and node network lifecycle: Build Kubernetes-native automation to create, modify, and remove tenant networks and manage node membership through provisioning, scaling, repair, replacement, and reassignment. Verify isolation and connectivity at each transition, recover safely from partial failures, and remove stale configuration before resources are reassigned.
• Data center routing and connectivity: Own dynamic configuration of tenant networks, BGP, routing policy, VLANs, and overlays across management, tenant, and external networks. Build Kubernetes-native automation to provision and manage these capabilities through fabric-manager APIs, including customer service exposure, ingress/egress, VIPs, load balancers, and public IPs. Validate convergence, failover, reachability, and isolation.
• Kubernetes networking: Own networking for the Groq management plane and tenant clusters, including Cilium, network policy, service routing, ingress, egress, and integration with bare-metal networks.
• GPU networking: Automate tenant configuration and lifecycle operations for GPU networking, including NVL72 systems, InfiniBand, RoCE, and GPUDirect, through supported platform and fabric-management interfaces. Validate connectivity, isolation, and performance as tenant allocations and node membership change.
• Addressing and fabric integration: Own dynamic address allocation, network inventory integration, and tenant network configuration through IPAM, NetBox, and fabric-manager APIs such as Netris and UFM. Keep intended configuration, applied state, and inventory consistent throughout the tenant and node lifecycle.
• Tenant isolation and network security: Own segmentation and traffic policy across the Groq management plane, tenant clusters, and physical fabrics. Define permitted communication between environments and verify isolation through provisioning, scaling, maintenance, and hardware reassignment. Work with security engineering on network access controls and hardening requirements.
• Network standards and configuration lifecycle: Establish addressing, routing, and configuration standards for GroqMetal’s management plane and tenant networks. Implement declarative configuration and continuous reconciliation through Kubernetes-native controllers, fabric-manager APIs, and GitOps, with code review, automated testing and validation, staged rollout, and recovery procedures. Detect and reconcile configuration drift, and maintain tenant isolation as nodes enter, leave, or return to tenant networks during provisioning, repair, and reassignment.
• Production network reliability: Own network telemetry, troubleshooting, and incident remediation. Diagnose packet loss, routing failures, congestion, and unexpected traffic across hosts, clusters, fabrics, and the edge. Turn recurring incidents and performance findings into prioritized improvements to the managed service.

Ideal candidates have/are

• Deep networking knowledge and production ownership: You have designed and operated networking services on data center infrastructure through deployment, expansion, maintenance, and incidents. You understand TCP/IP, BGP, routing policy, peering, ECMP, segmentation, and interconnects well enough to explain packet paths, diagnose failures, and evaluate the consequences of a configuration change.
• Bare-metal data center networking expertise: Experience operating leaf-spine fabrics, underlay and overlay networks, and tenant separation using technologies such as VLANs, VRFs, and EVPN/VXLAN.
• Strong Kubernetes and Linux networking experience: Practical knowledge of CNI behavior, Cilium or comparable systems, network policy, service exposure, and the interaction between cluster networking and physical infrastructure.
• Kubernetes-native development, network automation, and GitOps experience: You have built Kubernetes controllers, operators, and custom resources in Go. You can integrate network APIs through reconciliation loops that handle retries, partial failures, and resource cleanup safely. You have managed changes through version control, code review, automated testing, and controlled rollout.
• Experience building multitenant infrastructure or managed Kubernetes products: You have helped deliver Kubernetes networking as a service, including customer onboarding, provisioning, upgrades, scaling, and production support. You can turn customer requirements into supported features with defined behavior, limits, and operational procedures.
• Experience securing networks that run customer workloads: You have designed and operated tenant separation, management network boundaries, and traffic controls, with practical methods for testing that those controls work.
• Fabric management and IPAM experience: Netris, UFM, NetBox, or comparable fabric management and IPAM systems.
• GPU infrastructure expertise: NVIDIA GPU infrastructure and AI networking, including InfiniBand, Spectrum-X, NVL72 systems, RDMA, RoCE, and congestion control.
• GPU cluster networking experience: Networking for large GPU clusters, including distributed workload performance, high-bandwidth east-west traffic, and multi-site connectivity.
• Product judgment grounded in networking: You can understand a customer’s requirements, evaluate the network implications, and define a capability the platform can reliably deliver and support.

Why Join Us:

• Purposeful Hiring: You’re not here by accident, and neither is anyone else. Every teammate is handpicked with intention because who we build with matters.
• Builders Wanted: You’re not just riding the rocket ship, you’re building it. Your work directly shapes the trajectory of our company.
• Mission-Driven Work: We’re here to make a real impact. Our mission fuels everything we do.
• Tackling Hard Problems: If easy isn’t your thing, you’re in the right place. We solve some of the most complex and exciting challenges in our space.
• Excellence Is The Standard: High performance isn’t just encouraged, it’s the baseline. And it’s contagious.

CompensationGroq is committed to providing competitive compensation through our Total Cash philosophy, which incorporates potential bonus value directly into base pay. The total cash salary range for this position, which is inclusive of the potential bonus value, is $270,400 - $401,600, with individual placement determined by your geographic location, experience, skills, and alignment with internal compensation standards. This range is specific to candidates located in the United States. Compensation for international candidates will vary based on local market dynamics. Beyond cash compensation, Groq also offers a Long-Term Incentive (LTI) Program and a robust suite of employee benefits.#LI-MS1
US Job PostingThis position may require access to technology and/or information subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). To comply with these requirements, candidates for this role must meet certain citizenship or residency criteria. Specifically, they must qualify as U.S. Persons for export control purposes (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (Green Card holder), or a protected individual under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3) such as a refugee or asylee), or otherwise be eligible for an applicable export license.
Non-US Job PostingsThis position may require access to technology and/or information subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations, as well as applicable local laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). To comply with these requirements, candidates for this role must meet all relevant export control eligibility criteria.
Groq is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Groq complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any protected characteristic.
Groq is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application or to participate in the hiring process, please contact us at talent@groq.com. This contact is for accommodation requests only, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
All offers of employment are contingent upon verification of the applicant’s identity and employment authorization in accordance with federal law.
Groq encourages people with criminal record histories to apply for employment, and values diverse experiences, including prior contact with the criminal legal system.  To that end, Groq welcomes such applicants in accordance with the California Fair Chance Act, Los Angeles City Fair Chance Act Ordinance, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Act Ordinance, and San Francisco Fair Chance Act Ordinance.  Philadelphia applicants can review information pertaining to Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance here: https://www.phila.gov/documents/fair-chance-hiring-law-poster.
As part of our hiring process, Groq may use artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools or automated systems to assist with activities such as reviewing applications, evaluating qualifications, scheduling interviews, analyzing assessment responses, or supporting recruiting operations. These tools are designed to assist—not replace—human decision-making, and hiring decisions are subject to human review. We may process information you provide during the application process, including resumes, application materials, interview responses, assessments, and, where applicable, audio, video, or transcript data. If legally required, we will request consent before using technologies that analyze biometric or video interview data. Candidates may request reasonable accommodations, an alternative evaluation process, additional information regarding the use of AI in the hiring process, or review of certain automated decisions by contacting ta-operations@groq.com.