Forward Deployed Engineer - Site Reliability / Infrastructure
Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU.
If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us.
*Note: This position requires presence in our upcoming Bellevue office location or on-site with strategic customers 4 days per week; Lambda’s designated work from home day is currently Tuesday.
About The Role
We're looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to embed directly with a strategic customer, serving as the technical bridge between Lambda and their team. You'll work where model performance matters most, delivery timelines are urgent, and ambiguity is the default state. Your job is to map problems, structure delivery paths, and ship solutions that create measurable impact.
What You’ll Do
Customer Engagement
Embed on-site with a named strategic customer, becoming an extension of their team
Act as the primary technical liaison between Lambda and the customer organization
Navigate ambiguous requirements to identify root problems and define clear technical solutions
Drive alignment across internal Lambda teams and customer stakeholders
Technical Delivery
Scope, sequence, and build full-stack solutions that deliver measurable business value
Design and implement infrastructure optimizations for AI/ML workloads at scale
Debug complex distributed systems issues across the infrastructure stack
Ship iteratively and learn fast, adjusting approach based on customer feedback and results
Strategic Impact
Identify reusable patterns from customer engagements that can scale across Lambda's customer base
Surface field intelligence that influences Lambda's product roadmap
Document and share learnings to elevate the capabilities of the broader team
Represent Lambda with executive presence in high-stakes customer interactions
About You
Must-Have
6+ years of experience in a SRE, software engineer, or similar role, with a deep knowledge of running Linux clusters and systems
Strong programming skills in Go and Python; experience with GitOps (e.g., ArgoCD), Helm, and Kubernetes operators
Proven experience operating Kubernetes clusters in production environments (on-prem, EKS, GKE, or similar)
Hands-on experience with AI/ML workload management tools (Volcano, Kubeflow, or similar)
Can work either independently with limited direction or as part of a team
Familiarity with observability tools like Prometheus, Grafana, FluentBit, and CI/CD pipelines
Proven experience provisioning Kubernetes using tools such as kubeadm, Cluster API, or similar
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical complexity for diverse audiences
Executive presence and ability to represent Lambda in customer-facing situations
Comfort operating in ambiguous environments with competing priorities
Strong bias for action and shipping iteratively
Nice-to-Have
Deep Kubernetes expertise: CRDs, CSI, CNI, Kubernetes Operator Coding experience
Exposure to HPC clusters, AI/ML workloads, or large-scale GPU clusters
Hybrid or multi-cloud Kubernetes environment experience
Contributions to CNCF projects or Kubernetes SIGs
Why Join Us
Work on cutting-edge Managed Kubernetes platforms for AI/ML workloads
Influence the platform roadmap and help shape operations and reliability best practices
Collaborate with a highly skilled engineer
Opportunity to mentor and grow within a fast-growing, technology-driven environment
Salary Range Information
The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.
About Lambda
Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast
Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, and Crescent Cove
We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG
Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers
We offer generous cash & equity compensation
Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles
401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)
Flexible paid time off plan that we all actually use
A Final Note:
You do not need to match all of the listed expectations to apply for this position. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.