← All roles

Compute Server Platform Architect

Cerebras· Software Engineering
Apply on company site
United States and CanadaFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Compute / Server Platform Architect responsible for server-side platform architecture for Cerebras CS3-based AI clusters, focusing on predictability, scalability, and reliability of the x86 server fleet as part of the end-to-end system.

Responsibilities

  • Own the architecture for all server roles in Cerebras clusters, including definitions of server types, configurations, and lifecycle strategy.
  • Define and maintain server formulas (counts and ratios per CS-3 count, cluster size, and workload type) including capacity planning and headroom policy.
  • Specify platform configurations: CPU SKU and core strategy, vendor roadmap (e.g., AMD, Intel, ARM), memory topology (channels, DIMM type, capacity), PCIe topology and lane budgeting, NIC selection/placement, and local NVMe policy where applicable.
  • Translate software and runtime flows into measurable hardware requirements (CPU utilization, memory bandwidth/latency, bursty IO patterns, queueing and concurrency limits) and communicate guardrails back to software teams.
  • Develop performance and scaling models; validate with microbenchmarks and workload-level experiments; identify bottlenecks and drive cross-stack fixes.
  • Define the OS, BIOS, firmware, and driver baseline for each server type; coordinate with other teams to apply them on the fleet.
  • Stay current on emerging server technologies (CPU generations, new memory technologies, CXL, NVMe evolutions, SmartNIC/DPU capabilities) and run proof-of-concept evaluations to determine adoption.
  • Lead technical vendor engagements (OEM/ODM and component vendors): influence roadmap, request platform knobs, and drive joint debugging on performance or reliability issues.
  • Define qualification and acceptance criteria (performance, stability, operability) and partner with Infrastructure Hardware TPM to execute qualification plans and land changes into production.
  • Support bring-up and rare deployment debugging in lab and staging environments; drive root-cause analysis for regressions spanning firmware, drivers, OS, and runtime behavior.

Qualifications

  • PhD. in Computer Science or Electrical/Computer Engineering and + 8 years industry experience, or Master’s/Bachelor’s in CS or EE + 10 years industry experience.
  • 5+ years of experience in server platform architecture, systems performance engineering, or large-scale infrastructure design for AI/ML, HPC, or performance-sensitive distributed systems.
  • Deep understanding of x86 server architecture: CPU microarchitecture basics, cache hierarchies, NUMA, memory controllers/channels, and memory bandwidth vs latency tradeoffs.
  • Strong Linux systems knowledge: profiling and performance analysis, scheduling and syscall overheads, memory management behavior, and practical tuning methodology.
  • Experience reasoning about high-performance IO paths, including NIC behavior at a systems level, RDMA/RoCE concepts, and NVMe performance characteristics.
  • Proven ability to create capacity and performance models and validate them empirically with benchmarking.
  • Experience working directly with vendors/partners to evaluate platforms, drive issue resolution, and influence roadmaps.
  • Strong cross-functional communication skills and ability to drive technical decisions through clear tradeoff documents and reviews.
  • Familiarity with application and system software (C, C++, Python).

Skills

Required:Server platform architecturePerformance engineeringLinux system optimizationVendor engagement

Benefits

  • Not specified in the description
Last updated Aug 30, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Cerebras

Cerebras is the go-to platform for fast and effortless AI training. Learn more at cerebras.ai.

Cerebras is the go-to platform for fast and effortless AI training.

AICerebras Wafer-Scale Enginechipshardwareinferenceliquid-ai-recruiting-targetmultimodalsetter-30
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at Cerebras