HPC Hardware Engineer –Firmware & Fleet Automation
Location: Dallas, TX
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Employment Type: Direct Hire
Relocation: Available for qualified non-local candidates
Overview
Our client, a growing high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure company, is seeking an
HPC Hardware Engineer to own firmware lifecycle management and build automation across a large, diverse fleet of CPU servers, GPU systems, and rack-scale AI infrastructure.
This hands-on role combines hardware engineering, Linux administration, and production automation. You will evaluate vendor releases, qualify firmware updates, maintain approved baselines, and develop repeatable deployment workflows that keep infrastructure secure, compatible, and reliable.
The environment includes NVIDIA A100/H200 GPU servers, HPE GB200 and Dell GB300 NVL72 rack-scale systems, BlueField DPUs, and ConnectX adapters. Working closely with Data Center Operations, Networking, Software Engineering, and hardware vendors, you will help make hardware onboarding and firmware upgrades safe, consistent, and scalable.
Key ResponsibilitiesFirmware Lifecycle & Qualification
- Own firmware releases from initial vendor evaluation through testing, approval, deployment, and ongoing support.
- Monitor vendor releases and security advisories to determine applicability, urgency, and compatibility across hardware platforms.
- Validate firmware performance, interoperability, and stability in representative lab environments.
- Identify regressions before production deployment and work with vendors to investigate defects and validate fixes.
- Maintain approved firmware baselines, versioned release manifests, and auditable deployment records.
Fleet Automation & Upgrade Orchestration
- Develop vendor-neutral automation using Redfish, IPMI, and platform-specific interfaces such as HPE iLO, Dell iDRAC, HPE OneView, and NVIDIA utilities.
- Build reusable workflows and declarative configurations for firmware provisioning, validation, and deployment.
- Develop production automation using Python, Ansible, Jenkins, Git, and workflow orchestration platforms such as Temporal.
- Implement rack-aware deployment sequencing, controlled concurrency, retries, failure handling, and recovery procedures.
- Integrate hardware inventory APIs and validation checks into automated workflows.
Firmware Packaging & Deployment
- Build and maintain firmware packages, including custom HPE Service Packs for ProLiant and NVIDIA BlueField BFB bundles.
- Establish controlled artifact promotion and release approval processes.
- Execute safe deployments through lab qualification, canary testing, phased rollouts, and automated health checks.
- Develop recovery procedures for failed upgrades and document platform-specific deployment considerations.
- Detect and remediate firmware drift across servers, racks, and data centers.
Hardware Onboarding & Provisioning
- Automate hardware onboarding, including inventory validation, management interface configuration, and firmware readiness.
- Support provisioning workflows using OpenStack/Ironic, Terraform, and cloud-init where applicable.
- Partner with data center teams to prepare new hardware for reliable production use.
- Identify recurring manual tasks and deliver automation improvements from initial design through production adoption.
Reliability, Security & Collaboration
- Incorporate secrets management, least-privilege access, hardware-health telemetry, and actionable alerting into automation services.
- Troubleshoot complex hardware and firmware issues alongside infrastructure teams and external vendors.
- Coordinate defect escalations, testing, repair procedures, and deployment decisions.
- Maintain clear operating procedures, firmware standards, and troubleshooting documentation for engineering and on-call teams.
Required Qualifications
- Strong experience managing and automating heterogeneous HPC or AI hardware environments at scale, including CPU/GPU servers and rack-scale systems.
- Hands-on experience managing firmware qualification, compatibility, baselines, packaging, and production deployment.
- Experience with Redfish, IPMI, and vendor management tools such as iLO, iDRAC, OneView, or NVIDIA utilities.
- Strong Python development skills and experience administering Linux systems.
- Production automation experience using Ansible, Jenkins, and Git.
- Experience with workflow orchestration platforms such as Temporal, including concurrency controls, retries, and failure recovery.
- Familiarity with firmware packaging and release processes, including HPE SPPs, BlueField BFB bundles, or comparable tooling.
- Experience using canary deployments, phased rollouts, health validation, and recovery procedures to reduce deployment risk.
- Demonstrated ability to work directly with hardware and firmware vendors to diagnose issues, escalate defects, and validate resolutions.
- Strong ownership, troubleshooting, documentation, and cross-functional communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with NVIDIA A100/H200, HPE GB200, Dell GB300 NVL72, BlueField DPUs, or ConnectX adapters.
- Experience with OpenStack/Ironic for bare-metal provisioning.
- Familiarity with Terraform and cloud-init.
- Experience building hardware inventory integrations, firmware drift detection, and hardware-health monitoring.
- Background supporting large-scale HPC, AI infrastructure, or cloud computing environments.
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.