Senior Software Engineer, NVIDIA Kubernetes

NVIDIA is hiring a Senior Software Engineer, NVIDIA Kubernetes in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $184k-$288k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this software engineer role Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
The listed pay starts 10% above the typical software engineer posting on Level.
Level classifies it as a senior role.
Level lists 2,700+ other open roles at NVIDIA.
The role was posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

NVIDIA is recognized as one of the technology world's most desirable employers, driving groundbreaking developments in Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing, and Visualization. Doing what’s never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world’s best talent.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Management Plane area, you will own building and delivering software that creates, upgrades, scales, and operates Kubernetes clusters on customer-managed infrastructure. This infrastructure supports demanding AI and high-performance computing workloads. You will set technical direction, lead cross-team development, and mentor other engineers while shipping high-quality, production-ready software.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Develop and build management plane capabilities such as cluster lifecycle operations (compose, upgrade, scale, repair, delete), node management, and fleet-wide health and status reporting, from development through production.
Architect and implement Kubernetes controllers, operators, and custom resource definitions (CRDs) in Go, with reliable, idempotent reconciliation.
Drive automated cluster provisioning across bare metal, virtualized, and cloud environments, using Cluster API-style concepts and infrastructure providers.
Lead technical build: write build docs, run build reviews, and align partner teams across the software and hardware stack.
Diagnose and improve the performance, reliability, and security of complex, asynchronous distributed systems, including debugging issues in production.
Own test strategy (unit, integration, end-to-end) and automate build, test, and release pipelines.
Mentor engineers, improve code reviews, and keep documentation and runbooks clear and current.
Prioritize various tasks while maintaining high code quality.

What We Want To See:

BS/MS in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
8+ years of relevant software engineering experience, including building and operating production distributed systems.
Strong proficiency in a systems language (Go, C++, Rust, or Java), with solid data structures and algorithms fundamentals and the ability to become productive in Go quickly.
Strong understanding of Kubernetes and container orchestration, including the API server, controllers, and reconciliation loops.
Background in distributed system build and development, including consistency, availability, and failure handling at scale.
Experience in automation using tools like Ansible and Terraform, along with experience establishing and managing CI/CD systems.
Solid Linux fundamentals and an understanding of performance, security, and reliability in distributed environments.
Track record of leading technical builds and mentoring other engineers.

Ways to Stand Out from the crowd:

Broad experience with Go, especially concurrency and testing, and with client-go / controller-runtime.
Significant hands-on production experience operating Kubernetes at scale, including control plane or etcd scalability and availability.
Experience with Cluster API or infrastructure providers on bare metal, vSphere, OpenStack, or AWS, along with solid experience using GitLab, Jenkins, or other CI/CD platforms.
Expert knowledge of Linux kernel and system internals, or experience with GPU/DPU-accelerated infrastructure.
Open-source contributions to Kubernetes or related cloud-native projects.

Widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers, NVIDIA offers highly competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package. As you plan your future, see what we can offer to you and your family www.nvidiabenefits.com/

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4, and 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD for Level 5.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

How we rate this

Senior Software Engineer, NVIDIA Kubernetes at NVIDIA rates 15 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ 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.