Principal Hardware Engineer

As a member of the Hardware Engineering team you will be responsible for designing and implementing the hardware infrastructure which runs Fastly's stack. You and the team will work with internal teams and external vendors on the design, testing and rollout of the hardware including firmware and bios & system configuration updates to ensure a highly performant, available and scalable infrastructure. 

We’re looking for a talented Principle Hardware Systems Architect with experience in hardware systems, enterprise networking, and systems engineering for distributed systems that are scalable, fault-tolerant, and cost-effective. You’ll be joining a team responsible for the design of Fastly’s underlying hardware infrastructure and ensuring its stability and performance.  You’ll collaborate with the various software development teams, supply chain, operations, and vendors/partners.  Your key insights and data will drive the architecture and implementation of Fastly’s POPs. 

What You'll Do:

• Collaborate with software engineering teams, supply chain, vendors, and other leaders to evolve the Fastly hardware infrastructure based on new requirements, constraints, or changing technology
• Lead the hardware engineering team in the implementation of hardware, testing, firmware, and BIOS changes, including working with operations on keeping the fleet current 
• Collaborate on the testing of hardware - components and system in the lab, pre-production environment, and in production to make data driven decisions on the hardware architecture and vendors
• Working with partners on new solutions that might include their unique hardware architecture or requirements working with the Fastly stack 
• Define metrics, KPIs, standards and create the required tooling for implementing and debugging when they deviate from the expected values

Work cross functionally to troubleshoot and triage hardware throughout the full life cycle of the hardware platformsEngage application development teams to ensure compatibility and assist in performance evaluation to meet platform requirements and expectationsMentor junior engineering developers, operations, and infrastructure staffAssist in vendor quality activities not limited to:  First Article Inspections (FAI), site audit, and root cause analysis

What We're Looking For: 

• In order to be successful in this role, you have at least 10 years of experience with network hardware system architecture and associated tradeoffs that include software, hardware, operational cost, and mechanical aspects 
• You have experience collaborating with a broad range of roles, senior leadership, stakeholders and vendors 
• You are obsessed with detailed and timely documentation on all aspects involved with the hardware and tooling 
• Experience with defining, implementing, and leveraging hardware system metrics, KPIs, standards, and tooling for a distributed system and world-wide fleet with a mixture of hardware configurations
• You have a strong foundation of management platforms and tools:  console servers, IPMI, SSH, PXE, and telemetry systems

We’ll be super impressed if you have experience in any of these: 

• Extensive knowledge and experience of the storage and memory subsystems 

Experience with firmware development, programming, bash scripting, tooling creation and maintenance

• Experience with CDN hardware and software architecture 

Knowledge in open source operating systems, hypervisors, and orchestration frameworksBackground in test automationDeep understanding of various CPU architectures

Work Hours: This position will require you to be available during core business hours. 

Work Location(s) & Travel Requirements: 

Fastly currently embraces a largely hybrid model for most roles which allows employees flexibility to split their time between the office and home.

This position is open to the following preferred office locations:

• San Francisco
• New York
• Los Angeles
• Denver

This position may require travel as required by your role or requested by your manager.

Salary: 

The estimated salary range for this position is $211,370 to $264,220.

Starting salary may vary based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, and location.

This role may be eligible to participate in Fastly’s equity and discretionary bonus programs.

Benefits: 

We care about you. Fastly works hard to create a positive environment for our employees, and we think your life outside of work is important too. We support our teams with great benefits that start on the first day of your employment with Fastly. Curious about our offerings? 

• We offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance. Family planning, mental health support along with Employee Assistance Program, Insurance (Life, Disability, and Accident), an open vacation policy and up to 18 days of accrued paid sick leave are there to help support our employees. We also offer 401(k) (including company match) and an Employee Stock Purchase Program. For 2023, we offer 10 paid local holidays, 11 paid company wellness days.