1

Smartnic Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Senior Software Engineer, Networking

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$144.30K - $190.30K/yr

You will work extensively with the Linux Kernel, utilizing technologies such as XDP/EBPF, DPDK, SmartNIC, and DPU/IPU to drive innovation and performance improvements. What You'll Be Working On:

Software Engineer II, SDN Networking

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$114.90K - $157.30K/yr

You will work extensively with the Linux Kernel, utilizing technologies such as XDP/EBPF, DPDK, SmartNIC, and DPU/IPU to drive innovation and performance improvements. What You'll Be Working On:

Software Engineer II, SDN Networking

Sunnyvale, CA · On-site

$114.40K - $156.70K/yr

You will work extensively with the Linux Kernel, utilizing technologies such as XDP/EBPF, DPDK, SmartNIC, and DPU/IPU to drive innovation and performance improvements. What You'll Be Working On:

Software Engineer II, SDN Networking

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$114.90K - $157.30K/yr

You will work extensively with the Linux Kernel, utilizing technologies such as XDP/EBPF, DPDK, SmartNIC, and DPU/IPU to drive innovation and performance improvements. What You'll Be Working On:

Senior Software Engineer, Networking

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$144.30K - $190.30K/yr

You will work extensively with the Linux Kernel, utilizing technologies such as XDP/EBPF, DPDK, SmartNIC, and DPU/IPU to drive innovation and performance improvements. What You'll Be Working On:

Technical Product Manager, AI Cloud Networking

$170.90K - $197.60K/yr

... SmartNIC offload Company : Mirantis develops cloud infrastructure and container management software for organizations to build, operate, and scale applications. Founded in 1999, the company is ...

New

Senior Software Engineer, Networking

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$144.30K - $190.30K/yr

... SmartNIC (ConnectX6/7), DPU Bluefield3, and Intel IPU. • Familiarity with SR-IOV, vDPA, and scalable functions. • Strong background in kernel or embedded development, particularly with the Linux ...

Senior Networking Software Architect

Santa Clara, CA

$152.10K - $206.70K/yr

Define next-generation DPU/SmartNIC architecture and features for computing clusters and data-centers. * Define the SW stack from application level to HW interface, ensuring flawless integration.

It is responsible for the overall technology choice, silicon partitioning strategy, IP definition and selection and architectural guidance of datacenter products (SmartNIC, servers, AI accelerators ...

next page

Showing results 1-20

Smartnic information

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a SmartNIC Engineer, and why are they important?

To excel as a SmartNIC Engineer, you need a solid background in computer networking, hardware architecture, and programming (such as C/C++ or Verilog), often supported by a degree in computer engineering or a related field. Familiarity with network protocols, FPGA development tools, and SmartNIC platforms (like NVIDIA BlueField or Intel FPGA solutions) is typically required. Strong problem-solving abilities, collaboration, and adaptability are critical soft skills for innovating and integrating networking solutions. These competencies are essential for developing, optimizing, and deploying high-performance network interface cards that enable efficient, programmable data processing in modern data centers.

What are the typical daily responsibilities of a SmartNIC engineer and how do they interact with other teams?

A SmartNIC engineer typically spends their day designing, implementing, and testing network functions that run on programmable network interface cards. Their work often involves collaborating closely with software developers, network architects, and DevOps teams to ensure seamless integration of SmartNIC solutions into data center environments. Daily tasks may include writing and optimizing firmware, troubleshooting performance issues, and validating network security features. Communication and teamwork are key, as SmartNIC engineers must align their developments with broader network and business requirements.

What are SmartNICs and what do they do?

SmartNICs, or Smart Network Interface Cards, are advanced network cards that go beyond traditional NICs by offloading networking, storage, and security tasks from the main server CPU. They use onboard processors, such as FPGAs or ARM cores, to handle complex operations like packet filtering, encryption, and virtualization. This improves network performance, reduces latency, and frees up server resources for other tasks. SmartNICs are commonly used in data centers and cloud environments to enhance efficiency and scalability.

What is the difference between Smartnic vs Network Engineer?

AspectSmartnicNetwork Engineer
Required CredentialsCertifications like Cisco CCNA, CompTIA Network+Certifications like Cisco CCNA, CCNP, CompTIA Network+
Work EnvironmentData centers, hardware development, network infrastructureCorporate offices, ISPs, enterprise networks
Industry UsageNetworking hardware manufacturers, data center providersTelecommunications, IT services, enterprise networks

Smartnic and Network Engineer roles share overlapping certifications and work environments, but Smartnic specialists focus on hardware acceleration and network hardware design, while Network Engineers handle network setup, configuration, and troubleshooting. Both roles are vital in modern networking infrastructure, often collaborating within data centers and enterprise networks.

More about Smartnic jobs
What cities are hiring for Smartnic jobs? Cities with the most Smartnic job openings:
What states have the most Smartnic jobs? States with the most job openings for Smartnic jobs include:
Infographic showing various Smartnic job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 84% Physical, and 16% Remote job distribution.

Senior Software Engineer, Network Platform

Moonlite

Chicago, IL

$107.10K - $146.80K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Retirement

Posted 19 days ago


Job description

Moonlite delivers high-performance AI infrastructure for organizations running intensive computational research, large-scale model training, and demanding data processing workloads. We provide infrastructure deployed in our facilities or co-located in yours, delivering flexible on-demand or reserved compute that feels like an extension of your existing data center. Our team of AI infrastructure specialists combines bare-metal performance with cloud-native operational simplicity, enabling research teams and enterprises to deploy demanding AI workloads with enterprise-grade reliability and compliance.

Your Role:

You will be foundational to building our software-defined networking (SDN) platform that enables high-performance, isolated networking for distributed computing, model training, inference, and data-intensive workloads. Working closely with our network, infrastructure, and product teams, you'll design and implement the network orchestration and provisioning systems that manage DPU-accelerated networking, tenant isolation, and network lifecycle management – enabling researchers and engineers to access enterprise-grade networking with cloud-like simplicity.

Job Responsibilities:
  • Software-Defined Networking Architecture: Collaborate with infrastructure to design and build scalable SDN orchestration systems leveraging NVIDIA Bluefield-3 DPUs to deliver programmable, high-performance networking for AI workloads with hardware-accelerated forwarding isolation.
  • Research Cluster Networking: Design and implement networking systems for research computing environments including Kubernetes and SLURM clusters, enabling high-performance connectivity, optimized network topology for distributed workloads, and seamless integration with cluster orchestration systems.
  • Network Provisioning & Lifecycle Management: Implement automated SDN provisioning systems that handle VPC creation, subnet allocation, routing configuration, and network resource lifecycle from deployment through decommissioning.
  • DPU Platform Engineering: Develop platform capabilities for managing Bluefield-3 DPUs including SR-IOV virtual function management, OVS offload configuration, network function deployment, and integration with compute orchestration systems.
  • Multi-Tenancy & Network Isolation: Build enterprise-grade network isolation using VPCs, VXLAN, and hardware-accelerated forwarding to ensure complete tenant separation while maintaining high-performance connectivity for GPU clusters and distributed workloads.
  • High-Performance Networking: Collaborate with infrastructure to optimize network paths for RDMA, RoCE, and GPU-to-GPU communication, ensuring minimal latency and maximum throughput for distributed training and large-scale computational workloads.
  • Network APIs & Integration: Develop robust APIs and SDKs for network resource management that integrate seamlessly with compute and storage platforms, enabling programmatic network provisioning and configuration.
  • Network Observability: Implement comprehensive network monitoring, telemetry, and troubleshooting systems that provide visibility into network performance, utilization, and tenant traffic patterns.Security & Policy Management: Build platform network security features including security groups, firewall rules, and policy enforcement that protect tenant workloads while enabling flexible network configuration.
Requirements:
  • Experience: 5+ years in software engineering with proven experience building network platforms, SDN systems, or network automation for production environments.
  • Kubernetes Networking & Container Orchestration: Strong familiarity with Kubernetes networking architecture, CNI plugins, service networking, and network policies. Understanding of pod networking, services, ingress, and how Kubernetes manages network resources.
  • Networking Expertise: Deep understanding of networking fundamentals including TCP/IP, VLANs, VXLAN, BGP, OSPF, routing protocols, and data center network architectures.Software-Defined Networking: Background in SDN concepts, network virtualization, overlay networks, and programmable networking technologies.
  • Programming Skills: Experience with Go and Python for performance-critical networking components and services is highly valued.
  • Linux Networking: Strong experience with Linux networking stack, including network namespaces, iptables/nftables, Open vSwitch, and kernel networking systems.
  • DPU & SmartNIC Experience: Familiarity with DPU/SmartNIC architectures (Bluefield, or similar), SR-IOV, hardware offload capabilities, and programmable networking hardware – or strong ability to learn quickly.
  • High-Performance Networking: Understanding of RDMA, RoCE, Infiniband, and low-latency networking requirements for distributed computing and GPU workloads.
  • Problem-Solving & Architecture: Demonstrated ability to solve complex networking performance and scalability challenges while balancing pragmatic shipping with good long-term architecture.
  • Autonomy & Communication: Comfortable navigating ambiguity, defining requirements collaboratively, and communicating technical decisions through clear documentation.
  • Commitment to Growth: Growth mindset with continuous focus on learning and professional development.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Background provisioning or managing networking for research computing environments (Kubernetes, SLURM, or HPC clusters)
  • Experience with NVIDIA Bluefield DPU programming and DOCA framework
  • Background with network function virtualization (NFV) and service function chaining
  • Knowledge of Kubernetes networking (CNI plugins, network policies, service mesh)
  • Experience building network control planes or SDN controllers
  • Familiarity with network automation frameworks and infrastructure-as-code for networking
  • Understanding of data center fabric architectures (spine-leaf, CLOS topologies)
  • Experience with network security and compliance requirements in regulated industries
  • Background building networking for research institutions, HPC environments, or cloud providers
Key Technologies
  • Go, Python, NVIDIA Bluefield DPUs, Open vSwitch, VXLAN, SR-IOV, RDMA, RoCE, InfiniBand, BGP, Linux networking, Terraform, FastAPI, gRPC
Why Moonlite
  • Build Next-Generation Infrastructure: Your work will create the platform foundation that enables financial institutions to harness AI capabilities previously impossible with traditional infrastructure.
  • Hands-On Ownership: As an early engineer, you'll have end-to-end ownership of projects and the autonomy to influence our product and technology direction.
  • Shape Industry Standards: Contribute to defining how enterprise AI infrastructure should work for the most demanding regulated environments.
  • Collaborate with Experts: Work alongside seasoned engineers and industry professionals passionate about high-performance computing, innovation, and problem-solving.
  • Start-Up Agility with Industry Impact: Enjoy the dynamic, fast-paced environment of a startup while making an immediate impact in an evolving and critical technology space.

We offer a competitive total compensation package combining a competitive base salary, startup equity, and industry-leading benefits. The total compensation range for this role is $165,000 – $225,000, which includes both base salary and equity. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, skills, and market alignment. We provide generous benefits, including a 6% 401(k) match, fully covered health insurance premiums, and other comprehensive offerings to support your well-being and success as we grow together.

#li-remote