---
title: 'Senior Performance Engineer at Crusoe'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-performance-engineer-crusoe-san-francisco-jg5dwedzcmez'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-06'
---

# Senior Performance Engineer at Crusoe

- **Company:** [Crusoe](https://feeny.ai/companies/crusoe)
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA / United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/crusoe/88259992-3dff-4e15-9758-9df012be2bac

## Job description

Crusoe is on a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. As the only vertically integrated AI infrastructure company built from the ground up, we own and operate each layer of the stack — from electrons to tokens — to power the world's most ambitious AI workloads. When you join Crusoe, you join a team that is building the future, faster.

We're in the midst of the greatest industrial revolution of our time. The demand for AI compute is boundless, and power is a bottleneck. We're solving that — with an energy-first approach that makes AI infrastructure better for the world and faster for the people innovating with AI.

We're looking for problem-solving, opportunity-finding teammates with a sense of urgency, who believe in the scale of our ambition and thrive on a path not fully paved — people who want to grow their careers alongside a team of experts across energy, manufacturing, data center construction, and cloud services.

If you want to do the most meaningful work of your career, help our customers and partners advance their AI strategies, and be part of a high-performing team that believes in each other, come build with us at Crusoe.

About the Role: We are seeking a highly skilled, hands-on Senior level performance engineer who thrives on deep technical challenges. The ideal candidate possesses a mastery of Linux kernel systems and low-level optimization, with a collaborative mindset to drive cross-functional projects. This is a full-time position where you will roll up your sleeves to perform direct performance benchmarking and system tuning, making a tangible impact on Crusoe’s global compute operations.

What You'll Be Working On:

- System Performance Benchmarking: Design and execute rigorous benchmarks to analyze system behavior, identifying bottlenecks and opportunities for performance enhancement.
- Kernel Optimization: Develop and implement low-level optimizations within the Linux kernel to maximize efficiency and system throughput.
- Hands-on Development: Write and maintain high-performance code using Go, C, C++, or Rust to drive infrastructure improvements.
- Data Plane Tuning: Focus on data plane performance, ensuring our cloud architecture meets the high-speed requirements of modern AI workloads.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Software Infrastructure, Product, and other engineering teams to align performance initiatives with broader organizational goals.
- Technical Problem-Solving: Actively troubleshoot complex system issues, applying an analytical approach to ensure reliability and scalability.
- Strategic Knowledge Sharing: Contribute to team documentation and best practices, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.

What You'll Bring to the Team:

- Linux Kernel Mastery: Deep expertise in Linux system internals and kernel-level programming is essential for this role.
- Programming Proficiency: Expert-level skills in Go, C, and C++ (Rust is also a strong asset).
- Systems Performance Mindset: A proven track record of hands-on performance tuning, benchmarking, and optimization in complex environments.
- Educational Foundation: A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- Collaborative Spirit: Ability to work effectively within cross-functional teams, communicating complex technical concepts clearly to stakeholders.
- AI Ecosystem Familiarity: Experience or exposure to the Artificial Intelligence/Cloud ecosystem and standard industry tooling.

Bonus Points:

- Hands-on experience with Rust development.
- Prior experience working in high-scale cloud or infrastructure engineering environments
- Deep familiarity with performance-critical infrastructure components beyond the kernel layer.
- Experience with specific low-level performance analysis and tracing tools.

Benefits:

- Competitive compensation and equity packages
- Restricted Stock Units
- Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
- Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
- Employer contributions to HSA account
- Paid parental leave
- Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
- Professional development & tuition reimbursement
- Mental health & wellness support
- Commuter benefits (parking & transit)
- Cell phone stipend
- 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
- Volunteer time off
- Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
- Daily meals allowance
- Additional perks & programs specific to location

## Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $170,000 - $205,000. + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicant's knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data. Crusoe is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, citizenship, marital status, sex/gender, sexual preference/ orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, national origin, or any other status protected by law or regulation.

## About Crusoe

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Crusoe is an energy-first AI infrastructure company that designs, builds, and operates hyperscale data centers and a cloud platform purpose-built for artificial intelligence workloads.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series E)
- **Headquarters**: Denver, Colorado, USA
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: AI Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Clean Energy
- Target customers: Enterprise AI companies, AI-native startups, research institutions, government agencies (B2B)
- **Mission**: "Accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence."

## Products & Services
- **Crusoe Cloud**: An AI-optimized cloud platform purpose-built for AI workloads, featuring high-performance NVIDIA and AMD compute, accelerated storage, and optimized RDMA networking. Claims to deploy models up to 20x faster and cut costs by up to 81%.
- **Crusoe Managed Inference**: A managed AI inference service built with Crusoe's proprietary MemoryAlloy technology, offering best-in-class speed, throughput, and reliability. Features the Crusoe Intelligence Foundry for model selection and API key management.
- **AI Data Center Infrastructure**: Vertically integrated design, build, and operation of hyperscale AI factories (e.g., the 1.2 GW Stargate campus in Abilene, TX). Modular, scalable construction for power-hungry AI workloads.
- **Crusoe Managed Kubernetes & Slurm**: Managed orchestration services that eliminate operational overhead for customers.
- **Crusoe AutoClusters**: Fault-tolerant, managed cluster services for large-scale AI training.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company).
- **Key Metric**: Raised over $1.8B+ in total funding (Series E in 2024 was $1B+; Series D in 2024 was $600M; Series C in 2021 was $350M).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: NVIDIA, NYDIG, GE Vernova, Redwood Materials, Tallgrass, AMD. The company has also partnered with leading energy and technology firms to power its data centers.
- **Growth Signals**: Divested bitcoin mining business to NYDIG in 2023 to focus exclusively on AI infrastructure; broke ground on the 1.2 GW Stargate campus in Abilene, TX; expanded into Europe with a geothermal/hydro-powered deployment in Iceland; announced 1.8 GW Wyoming data center with Tallgrass; acquired GPU memory optimization startup Atero and established a Tel Aviv office.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Energy-First Approach**: The company’s core differentiator is its vertical integration starting from energy sourcing. It uses "environmentally aligned power sources" (wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, natural gas with carbon capture) to power its AI factories, including pioneering technology to convert wasted natural gas into energy.
- **Vertical Integration**: Controls the entire stack—from finding innovative energy sources to building and managing hyperscale data centers and operating the cloud platform.
- **NVIDIA Partnership**: Close partnership with NVIDIA, providing access to the latest and highest-performance GPU hardware for its cloud and infrastructure.
- **Proven Performance**: Claims 99.98% uptime, 100% customer satisfaction score, and significant cost/performance advantages (up to 81% cost reduction).

## Strategic Focus
- **Massive Infrastructure Expansion**: Aggressively scaling its data center footprint, with major projects in Abilene, Texas (Stargate) and Wyoming (Tallgrass), and expansion into Europe.
- **Deepening AI Cloud**: Continuing to build out its Crusoe Cloud platform with managed services (Kubernetes, Slurm, AutoClusters) to make it easier for AI companies to use their infrastructure.
- **Responsible AI**: Emphasizing sustainability and responsible AI governance, as evidenced by achieving ISO 42001 certification and publishing an ESG report.
- **Acquisition-led Growth**: Acquired Atero (GPU memory optimization) to enhance its core technology stack.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven**: The company is united by a tangible mission: "Accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence." Employees report high levels of engagement (92% proud to work there per internal survey).
- **Massive Growth Trajectory**: Crusoe is at the center of the AI infrastructure boom, building some of the world's most powerful AI factories. For job seekers, this means exposure to cutting-edge technology and the opportunity to scale a company from a startup to an industry leader.
- **Culture**: The company values "moving fast and making things," continuous learning, and collective genius. It describes itself as an "AI factory company" that values velocity and impact.
- **Work Policy**: Hybrid/Office presence required in most roles. Office locations include: Denver (HQ), San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, Tulsa, Dublin (Ireland), and Tel Aviv (Israel).
- **Benefits**: Competitive compensation & equity, comprehensive health & wellness, mental health resources, retirement plans, paid time off, leave of absence programs, learning & development, volunteer time off, daily meals allowance, and other location-specific perks.
- **Engineering Culture**: Strong emphasis on technical excellence, working with large-scale systems, and pioneering new approaches to energy and infrastructure. The company values candidates' "AI fluency" in its hiring process.

## Sources
1. [crusoe.ai](https://www.crusoe.ai/)
2. [crusoe.ai/careers](https://www.crusoe.ai/about/careers)
3. [crusoe.ai/about/culture](https://www.crusoe.ai/about/careers/culture)
4. [crusoe.ai/about/company](https://www.crusoe.ai/about/company)

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