{"id":1711538,"url":"https://alion.io/job/designworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer","title":"Principal Hardware Design Engineer","company":{"id":5026,"name":"Designworks Talent","domain":"designworkstalent.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/designworks-talent","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":true,"employer_type":"agency","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":92,"open_postings":8,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.125,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":134,"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Bellevue, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":152000,"max_usd":282000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":656},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"HPC","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-02T17:00:02Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-07","last_verified_at":"2026-11-01T04:05:15Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":29,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":29},"description":"Principal Hardware / Machine Design Engineer\nLocation: Hybrid | Bellevue, WA (downtown)\nTitles: Principal (multiple roles available) ; Staff level may be considered\nDesign the Hardware Powering the Next Generation of AI Infrastructure\nAbout the Opportunity\nA well-funded, rapidly growing AI infrastructure company is building a next-generation cloud platform designed to power the full lifecycle of artificial intelligence. The organization is developing a comprehensive AI infrastructure, platform, and services portfolio that supports the full spectrum of AI workloads-including large-scale compute, model training, fine-tuning, inference, and emerging agentic AI applications.\nBacked by significant long-term investment, the company combines the speed, ownership, and innovation of a startup with the stability and resources of an established parent organization. Engineering teams are intentionally lean, highly collaborative, and AI-native, leveraging modern automation and tooling to build world-class infrastructure capable of supporting the most demanding AI workloads.\nWe're seeking a Principal Hardware / Machine Design Engineer to lead the design of next-generation GPU server and rack infrastructure. This role is ideal for an engineer who enjoys translating vendor reference architectures into highly optimized, production-ready systems that maximize performance, reliability, serviceability, and cost efficiency.\nThe Opportunity\nAs one of the earliest infrastructure engineers on the team, you'll own the physical design of GPU servers and rack-scale systems that form the foundation of a rapidly expanding AI platform. Working closely with GPU vendors, ODMs/OEMs, data center engineering, networking, and operations teams, you'll drive hardware architecture from concept through deployment while influencing future infrastructure strategy.\nThis is a highly visible individual contributor role with broad ownership and the opportunity to shape hardware standards for a rapidly growing AI infrastructure organization.\nWhat You'll Do\nLead the design and configuration of GPU servers and rack-scale infrastructure using vendor reference architectures from NVIDIA, AMD, and emerging AI hardware providers.\n\nPartner closely with ODMs and OEMs to develop, validate, and optimize custom hardware platforms for production deployment.\n\nOwn rack-level architecture, including mechanical layout, power distribution, thermal design, cable management, serviceability, and deployment standards.\n\nEvaluate new GPU platforms, server technologies, and hardware innovations to determine their suitability for next-generation AI workloads.\n\nCollaborate with data center engineering, networking, infrastructure, and operations teams to ensure seamless integration across facilities and production environments.\n\nBalance performance, reliability, manufacturability, scalability, and total cost of ownership when designing infrastructure solutions.\n\nSupport hardware validation, qualification, and production readiness for large-scale deployments.\n\nHelp establish engineering standards, hardware specifications, and design best practices as the infrastructure organization grows.\n\nWhat We're Looking For\nExtensive experience designing GPU-based servers, rack infrastructure, or large-scale compute platforms.\n\nDeep knowledge of GPU server architecture and vendor reference designs, particularly NVIDIA and AMD ecosystems.\n\nExperience working directly with ODMs and OEM partners to design, customize, qualify, and manufacture production hardware.\n\nStrong understanding of rack-level infrastructure, including power, cooling, airflow, mechanical integration, cable management, and serviceability.\n\nExperience supporting hyperscale cloud, AI infrastructure, HPC, or large-scale data center environments.\n\nAbility to evaluate architectural trade-offs across performance, scalability, reliability, and cost.\n\nComfortable operating as a senior technical leader within a fast-moving, high-growth engineering organization.\n\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience designing infrastructure supporting AI training clusters or large-scale inference platforms.\n\nExperience with liquid cooling technologies, high-density rack deployments, or advanced thermal management.\n\nFamiliarity with multiple GPU generations and evolving accelerator technologies.\n\nBackground designing hardware platforms for cloud providers, hyperscalers, or AI infrastructure companies.\n\nExperience influencing long-term hardware architecture and infrastructure strategy.\n\nCompensation\nCompetitive base pay for Bellevue market\n\nCertain roles are eligible for additional rewards, including merit increases, annual bonus, and long term incentives. These awards are allocated based on individual performance\n\nU.S. based employees have access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan and company match, employees also receive per calendar year, paid holidays.\n\nLocation\nHybrid role based in the Bellevue, WA area.\n\nApproximately three days per week in the office.\n\nCandidates elsewhere in the U.S. who are open to relocation are encouraged to apply.\n\nU.S. work authorization is required. Visa sponsorship is not currently available.\n\nWhy Join?\nDesign the hardware foundation powering one of the industry's most ambitious AI infrastructure platforms.\n\nOwn architecture decisions spanning GPU servers, rack systems, and next-generation compute infrastructure.\n\nWork directly with leading hardware vendors and manufacturing partners to build production-scale AI systems.\n\nJoin early enough to influence technical direction, engineering standards, and infrastructure strategy.\n\nCollaborate with an exceptional team solving some of the most challenging problems in AI infrastructure, high-performance computing, and hyperscale systems.\n\nEnjoy the autonomy and impact of a startup environment backed by substantial long-term investment and a bold vision for the future of AI.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5929,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-02T17:30:33Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":54,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.538,"p_room":1,"age_days":28,"expected_fill_days":134,"reasons":["conf:3","agency","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/designworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/designworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-01T06:02:57Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":9446,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-02T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":5026},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=5026"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fdesignworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fdesignworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fdesignworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/designworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fdesignworks-talent-principal-hardware-design-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":1711538}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"designworkstalent.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":1711538},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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