Data Center Infrastructure Architect

Department: Infrastructure

Location: San Francisco, Austin, TX, New York, NY, U.S. Remote

Compensation: $200K – $300K • Offers Equity

Employment Type: FullTime

About Fluidstack

At Fluidstack, we’re building the infrastructure for abundant intelligence. We partner with top AI labs, governments, and enterprises - including Mistral, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, Meta, and more - to unlock compute at the speed of light.

We’re working with urgency to make AGI a reality. As such, our team is highly motivated and committed to delivering world-class infrastructure. We treat our customers’ outcomes as our own, taking pride in the systems we build and the trust we earn. If you’re motivated by purpose, obsessed with excellence, and ready to work very hard to accelerate the future of intelligence, join us in building what's next.

About the Role

The DC Infrastructure Architect (Optical) is responsible for translating logical network topologies into a scalable, resilient, and cost-optimized optical and structured cabling design for hyper-scale data centers. This role owns the end-to-end physical implementation of the data center network (DCN), including fiber plant architecture, transceiver planning, and integration with structured cabling ecosystems.

Focus

• Logical / Physical Mapping

  • Break down DCN logical port maps (TOR, spine, super-spine, DCI) into physical cross-connect and patching schedules.

  • Automate port-to-fiber mapping at scale (100K+ ports per site).

• Fiber Plant Design

  • Define cassette types (MTP/MPO Base-8/12/16), trunk counts, and structured cabling hierarchy.

  • Plan cassette placement within racks, rows, and meet-me-rooms.

  • Model fiber utilization and overbuild for 2–3 hardware generations.

• Optics / Transceiver Planning

  • Select optics (400G/800G DR4, FR4, LR4, SR8, coherent DCI) based on reach and loss budget.

  • Validate interoperability across vendors and generations.

  • Maintain loss budget and margin models for every link type.

• Structured Cabling & Physical Implementation

  • Define patching architectures (direct MPO vs. breakout vs. mid-span).

  • Ensure pathways (ladder racks, underfloor, ODFs) scale with fiber density.

  • Establish standards for labeling, documentation, and change management.

• Scalability & Lifecycle Management

  • Build modular designs for pod/rack growth.

  • Anticipate transition to higher-speed optics (e.g., 400G → 800G → 1.6T).

  • Integrate with DCIM (NetBox, custom tools) to track strands, ports, and patching.

About You

• Proven experience designing hyperscale or cloud provider data center networks (1000+ racks, 100K+ fiber strands).

• Expert in structured cabling systems (Corning, Panduit, CommScope) and MPO/MTP ecosystems.

• Deep knowledge of optical standards (IEEE 802.3, OIF) and transceiver technologies (400G/800G DR4, FR4, LR4, SR8).

• Strong grasp of fiber loss budgets, dispersion, and testing methodologies (OTDR, insertion loss, polarity verification).

• Experience integrating designs into DCIM tools (NetBox, Remedy, custom hyperscaler equivalents).

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive total compensation package (salary + equity).

• Retirement or pension plan, in line with local norms.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Generous PTO policy, in line with local norms.

The base salary range for this position is $200,000 - $300,000 per year, depending on experience, skills, qualifications, and location. This range represents our good faith estimate of the compensation for this role at the time of posting. Total compensation may also include equity in the form of stock options.

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.

You will receive a confirmation email once your application has successfully been accepted. If there is an error with your submission and you did not receive a confirmation email, please email [email protected] with your resume/CV, the role you've applied for, and the date you submitted your application-- someone from our recruiting team will be in touch.