SPDK Software Expert – Next-Generation AI Infrastructure Storage Platform

Sandisk understands how people and businesses consume data and we relentlessly innovate to deliver solutions that enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas. With a rich history of groundbreaking innovations in Flash and advanced memory technologies, our solutions have become the beating heart of the digital world we’re living in and that we have the power to shape.

Sandisk meets people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. We do this through the balance of our powerhouse manufacturing capabilities and our industry-leading portfolio of products that are recognized globally for innovation, performance and quality.

Sandisk has two facilities recognized by the World Economic Forum as part of the Global Lighthouse Network for advanced 4IR innovations. These facilities were also recognized as Sustainability Lighthouses for breakthroughs in efficient operations. With our global reach, we ensure the global supply chain has access to the Flash memory it needs to keep our world moving forward.

• We are building a next-generation storage platform for AI infrastructure that combines high-performance flash, accelerator technologies, and advanced storage software, with the goal of delivering a breakthrough step-function improvement in cost, power efficiency, density, and scalability for AI-era data-center storage.

• We are seeking a SPDK Software Expert to define and drive the high-performance user-space storage data path of this platform, turning advanced node architecture into a production-grade, ultra-low-latency software stack.

• This role will work at the center of the storage node software architecture, shaping how user-space storage frameworks, flash access, networking, and upper-layer storage services come together in a tightly optimized system. The role will also help strengthen Sandisk's broader software and system architecture knowledge across high-performance storage and data-center infrastructure.

Responsibilities:

• Drive the user-space storage data path for a groundbreaking storage platform targeting step-change improvements in cost, power, density, and scalability
• Define and implement the node-level storage stack using SPDK and related user-space storage technologies 
• Evaluate and optimize how the high-performance storage data path fits into the broader platform software stack, including interaction with metadata services and networked storage flows
• Design and optimize poll-mode, thread-per-core, lockless, and zero-copy execution models for predictable low latency and high throughput 
• Own performance analysis of the storage software data path, including queueing behavior, CPU efficiency, memory usage, PCIe bottlenecks, and tail-latency behavior 
• Work closely with architecture, hardware, firmware, and software teams on HW/SW partitioning decisions and interface definition 
• Drive integration choices around NVMe, user-space storage frameworks, DMA flows, memory placement, and multi-core scaling 
• Support bring-up, debugging, and optimization on real hardware platforms
• Contribute to technical direction, coding standards, and architectural quality across the software stack

Required:

• 8+ years of experience in high-performance storage software, systems software, or low-latency  infrastructure development
• Strong hands-on experience with SPDK in production or advanced development environments
• Deep experience with C/C++ and Linux systems programming
• Strong understanding of NVMe, PCIe, DMA, memory hierarchy, and storage I/O paths
• Proven experience building or optimizing user-space, asynchronous, multi-core software systems
• Demonstrated expertise in performance analysis, bottleneck identification, profiling, and optimization
• Ability to debug complex issues across software, firmware, and hardware boundaries• Strong collaborator with the ability to work across architecture, hardware, firmware, and software teams
• Fluent English with the technical clarity and credibility required to work with technical stakeholders and partners

Preferred:

• Experience with scale-out storage architectures or multi-node infrastructure software
• Experience with NVMe-oF, storage networking, or low-latency distributed systems
• Background in AI infrastructure, hyperscaler storage, or startup environments
• Experience contributing to open-source projects and upstream communities
• Experience bringing complex infrastructure software from concept to production

Sandisk thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Sandisk is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at [email protected] to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.