DDN is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to serve as the Technical Lead for the Data Ocean initiative within the DDN AI Data Platform. In this role, you will define the technical vision, architecture, and execution strategy for next-generation data management capabilities, including intelligent caching, global namespaces, data tiering, and data mobility across hybrid storage environments. You will work closely with Engineering, Product Management, and Architecture to build scalable, high-performance storage solutions that integrate object storage, file systems, and block storage for AI, HPC, and enterprise workloads. This is a hands-on technical leadership position for an experienced distributed systems engineer who enjoys solving complex storage challenges and mentoring engineering teams while driving architectural decisions. Technical Leadership - Own the technical vision, architecture, and long-term roadmap for the Data Ocean platform while leading the implementation of core platform capabilities. - Designing, developing, debugging, and optimizing production-quality C/C++ code for performance-critical distributed storage services. - Design and implement scalable solutions for data movement, metadata management, intelligent caching, global namespace services, and data mobility. - Architect and build high-performance data path and control plane services that deliver low latency, high throughput, scalability, and reliability. - Define architectures that seamlessly integrate object, file, and block storage across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments. - Solve complex distributed systems challenges involving consistency, replication, fault tolerance, concurrency, metadata management, and large-scale coordination. - Lead architecture reviews and technical design discussions while driving engineering decisions that balance performance, scalability, maintainability, and operational simplicity. - Lead by example through hands-on coding, code reviews, debugging, root-cause analysis, performance tuning, and technical mentoring. - Partner closely with Product Management and Engineering teams to translate product requirements into high-quality, production-ready software. Storage Platform Development - Lead the design and implementation of next-generation storage platform capabilities, including: - Intelligent object storage caching - File system namespace caching - Global namespace services - Policy-driven data tiering across object, file, and block storage - Data mobility, replication, and lifecycle management - Distributed metadata and control plane services Build highly scalable distributed storage software with enterprise-grade security, observability, availability, and operational excellence. Cross-Functional Leadership - Serve as the primary technical lead across Engineering, Product Management, and Architecture. - Collaborate with Product Management to define technical strategy, roadmap priorities, and implementation plans. - Drive technical execution and alignment across globally distributed engineering teams. - Mentor engineers through design reviews, architecture guidance, code reviews, and technical coaching. - Clearly communicate technical direction and architectural decisions to engineering and executive stakeholders. - Partner with infrastructure, cloud, platform, and DevOps teams to ensure seamless deployment and integration. - Establish engineering best practices for systems-level software development using C/C++. - Maintain high standards for software architecture, code quality, performance, scalability, and maintainability. - Drive performance analysis, profiling, and optimization across distributed storage components. - Champion automated testing, including unit, integration, system, scalability, and performance testing. - Support modern CI/CD practices and reliable software delivery. Required Qualifications - Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field. - 10+ years of experience developing enterprise storage systems or distributed systems software. - Proven experience as a Principal Engineer, Senior Staff Engineer, or Technical Lead building complex distributed software platforms. - Expert-level C/C++ programming skills with a passion for writing high-quality, production-ready code. - Deep expertise in distributed systems, including consistency models, replication, fault tolerance, distributed coordination, concurrency, and scalability. - Strong experience with object storage, distributed file systems, block storage, and cloud storage architectures. - Proven track record designing and delivering production-scale distributed storage platforms. - Experience leading architecture and technical execution across cross-functional and globally distributed engineering teams. - Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills.