Skip to content

Nscale

Director of Technical Program Management, Logical Deployment

Nscale is hiring a Director of Technical Program Management, Logical Deployment in San Francisco and Seattle, United States. It pays $290k-$350k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Nscale.

Level's read on this job

  • Works on AI ●●●○ is how Level rates this role: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
  • The posting mentions Netbox, program management and infrastructure among its tools and skills.
  • Level classes it as an executive role.
  • Nscale has 297 other open roles on Level.
  • Posted within the past week.

AI in this role

Lead logical deployment and bring-up of large-scale AI GPU clusters and data center infrastructure.

Netbox
program-managementinfrastructuregpunetworking

.About Nscale and the Deployment PMO

Nscale builds and operates large-scale AI infrastructure, delivering GPU clusters for leading hyperscalers, AI labs and enterprises across North America, EMEA and APAC. The Deployment PMO turns signed contracts into live AI infrastructure, coordinating the many teams and partners involved in bringing large GPU clusters online.

About the role

As Director of Logical Deployment, you own everything that turns powered racks into a working, validated, customer-ready cluster. Once hardware is energized, you lead the network and software bring-up that makes it compute. That covers asset and inventory data, bootstrap connectivity, fabric deployment, control plane and fleet bring-up, GPU enrollment, acceptance validation, and handoff to ongoing operations.

You will turn a complex chain of engineering dependencies into a predictable sequence the business can commit to, and hold engineering, networking and partner teams to it.

What you’ll do

Own logical bring-up

  • Own the integrated logical schedule for each cluster, from asset data lock to customer handoff.
  • Maintain asset and inventory data in NetBox as the source of truth, locked before bring-up begins and kept accurate throughout.
  • Drive connectivity readiness, including edge connectivity, out-of-band and management networks, and bootstrap connectivity for both Nscale and customer environments.
  • Sequence service, control plane and fleet bring-up across engineering teams.

Deliver the network fabric

  • Drive front-end and back-end fabric deployment to completion with the Networking and Build Out teams.
  • Clear fabric, configuration and connectivity blockers quickly, and escalate early when they threaten the schedule.

Validate and hand off

  • Own GPU enrollment and validation, along with fleet manager ingestion and provisioning.
  • Lead acceptance validation against customer criteria, closing defects with engineering and OEM partners.
  • Prepare each cluster for handoff and transition it cleanly to ongoing operations, with complete documentation, runbooks and open-issue lists.

Lead people and build the operating model

  • Lead, hire and develop a team of engineering program managers, networking and validation specialists, and tooling and automation leads.
  • Define the logical deployment playbook, including entry criteria from Physical Deployment, gates, checklists and standard timelines.
  • Automate bring-up, validation and status reporting with the tooling team, so every cluster comes online faster than the last.
  • Report weekly status and risks to the VP and senior leadership, clearly separating forecast from upside.

What success looks like in your first 6–12 months

  • Every active cluster has one integrated logical schedule, owned by a named lead and reviewed weekly.
  • Logical milestones hit their committed dates, or slips are flagged at least two weeks ahead with a recovery plan.
  • Time from rack energization to customer handoff shrinks with each cluster.
  • Acceptance validation runs to a repeatable, documented standard on every site.
  • Clusters transition to ongoing operations with no open blockers.
  • A documented logical deployment playbook and core bring-up automation are in use on every new site.
  • The Logical Deployment team is fully staffed, with clear ownership and a succession path.

What you bring

  • 12+ years in hyperscale infrastructure, cloud platforms or large-scale HPC delivery, including 5+ years leading teams.
  • Direct experience delivering large GPU or HPC clusters, from network and platform bring-up through validation and customer acceptance.
  • Strong working knowledge of data center networking, including front-end and back-end fabrics, InfiniBand or RoCE, and out-of-band and management networks.
  • Strong working knowledge of infrastructure software, including provisioning, control planes, fleet management and asset systems such as NetBox.
  • A track record of driving engineering teams you don’t directly manage to firm commitments.
  • Strength in building integrated schedules and critical paths across many dependencies, and in recovering them when they slip.
  • Clear, concise executive communication, both in writing and in the room, with honest forecasts.
  • Ability to travel about 50% of the time, primarily to data center sites.

How you lead

This is a Director-level role. We are looking for a leader who owns outcomes rather than one who reports on them.

  • Decisive: You call the real date, even when it’s unpopular, and pair it with a recovery plan. You make calls on incomplete information and stand behind them.
  • Assertive with partners: You hold engineering, networking and partner teams to their commitments. When a dependency slips, you escalate early, directly and with evidence.
  • Accountable: You own the outcome for every cluster in your scope. Rather than “waiting on engineering,” you explain what you are doing about it.
  • Steady under pressure: You bring order to a failing bring-up and help your team think clearly when schedules collapse.
  • Credible with executives: You brief SVPs and customers with a clear, honest position: what’s true, what’s at risk, and what you need from them.
  • A builder of leaders: You hire strong engineers and program managers, give them real ownership, and grow them into leaders.
  • Technically deep: You can read a fabric design, a bring-up log or a validation report and know where the problem is. Status reports alone are not enough.

Preferred qualifications

  • Hands-on experience with NVIDIA GB200/GB300 or Vera Rubin NVL72-class clusters, including NVLink, InfiniBand or Spectrum-X fabrics.
  • Experience at a hyperscaler, neocloud or AI lab bringing 10K+ GPU clusters into production.
  • Familiarity with NVIDIA cluster validation and burn-in.
  • Experience building automation for provisioning, validation or deployment reporting.
  • A background in network engineering, SRE or infrastructure software.

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

Salary Range$290,000—$350,000 USD

For information on how Nscale handles candidate personal data, please see our Employee & Candidate Privacy Notice: Here.

Nscale does not accept unsolicited candidate submissions from recruitment agencies.

How we rate this

Director of Technical Program Management, Logical Deployment at Nscale rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Program ManagementInfrastructureGPUNetworkingNetbox

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a project where program management was part of your work. What did you do?
  2. Tell me about a project where infrastructure was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where gpu was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where networking was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Walk me through how you've used Netbox in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Program Management, Infrastructure, GPU, Networking, and Netbox. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

Get your CV reviewed before you apply

Send your CV and the role you want next. Your review arrives by email within 3 days.

Get new AI jobs (Works on AI ●●●○ or higher) by email

One email a week, each job rated for how much AI is in the work. No recruiter spam, unsubscribe in one click.

Free.

Similar roles

Other roles that work on AI, at other companies.

What kind of AI work fits you?

Answer 12 practical questions in about three minutes. Get a simple profile, the work it points to, and live roles to explore next.

Find my next step

More jobs at Nscale

Related searches

Same AI level

Jobs by city