About this role.
This Senior System Engineer role at Nebius focuses on the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) team, building and operating the core networking layer of their AI cloud platform. The position involves developing control and data planes for network services, enhancing scalability and reliability, and working with technologies like C/C++ and Go. The ideal candidate has experience with routing, virtual networks, and ideally DPDK or VPP. It's a fast-paced, collaborative environment with a strong emphasis on ownership and impact in the AI infrastructure space.
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4/5Autonomy Level
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Core skills
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Cover letter sample
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am writing to express my interest in the Senior System Engineer position on the Virtual Private Cloud team at Nebius. With a strong background in C++ and Go, combined with deep experience in networking protocols and cloud infrastructure, I am excited about the opportunity to build the foundational networking layer for your AI cloud platform.
In my previous roles, I have designed and operated high-performance network services, including virtual networks and load balancers, ensuring stability and scalability. I am particularly drawn to Nebius's focus on engineering excellence and ownership, and I am eager to contribute to your fast-paced, collaborative environment.
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing how my skills and passion for networking can support Nebius's growth.
Sample interview questions
A VPC uses overlay networking technologies such as VXLAN or GENEVE to encapsulate tenant traffic. Each tenant gets its own virtual network identifier (VNI), and the overlay network ensures that packets only reach VMs within the same VPC. This isolation is enforced at the virtual switch or hypervisor and further controlled by security groups and network ACLs.
In a previous role, I noticed our load balancer had high latency under peak traffic. I profiled the data plane and identified unnecessary packet copying. I optimized memory usage and used DPDK to bypass the kernel, reducing latency by 40%, and implemented automated load testing to ensure stability.
I would start by checking the route tables of both subnets and the virtual router's forwarding table. Then verify that the VXLAN or overlay tunnels are operational, and inspect security group rules. I would also trace the packets using tools like tcpdump or eBPF to see where they are dropped.
DPDK provides a fast packet processing framework with high performance and lower latency, but it requires more manual packet handling and is less flexible in terms of protocol support. VPP offers a richer graph-based architecture, built-in protocols, and better scalability, but it has a steeper learning curve and can be more complex to integrate into existing systems.
I design with a distributed consensus protocol (like etcd or Raft) for state replication and leader election. The control plane should be horizontally scaled, and its failures should not affect the data plane. I also implement health checks, automatic failover, and ensure that upgrades are rolling to avoid downtime.
About Nebius:
Nebius is leading a new era in cloud infrastructure for the global AI economy. We are building a full-stack AI cloud platform that supports developers and enterprises from data and model training through to production deployment, without the cost and complexity of building large in-house AI/ML infrastructure.
Built by engineers, for engineers. From large-scale GPU orchestration to inference optimization, we own the hard problems across compute, storage, networking and applied AI.
Listed on Nasdaq (NBIS) and headquartered in Amsterdam, we have a global footprint with R&D hubs across Europe, the UK, North America and Israel. Our team of 1,500+ includes hundreds of engineers with deep expertise across hardware, software and AI R&D.
The role
The VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) team builds and operates the core networking layer of our cloud platform. We enable virtual machines to communicate reliably by abstracting them from the underlying physical network, providing seamless IP-based connectivity even as workloads move across the datacenter.
Our team designs secure, isolated private networks for customers, connects them to the public internet, and delivers essential networking services such as load balancers, firewalls, and security groups. Because nearly every cloud application depends on networking, VPC is a foundational service for the entire platform.
Stability and resilience are our top priorities—we engineer systems to remain reliable and operational even when parts of the cloud experience failures.
What we do:
- Increase service scalability
- Developing service functionality (e.g. IPv6 support, service endpoints, VPC peering, L7 load balancers and other networking services)
- Improve the internal architecture, optimizing interaction with related services
In this position, your responsibility will be to:
- Develop control & data plane for Nebius Cloud network services
- Improve service performance and reliability
- Automate complex cross-service interaction scenarios
- Perform load testing for services
We expect you to have:
- Capable of writing reliable, high-performance code
- Proficient in C/C++ or Go and ready to learn both.
- Familiar with routing network traffic
It would be an added bonus if you had:
- Worked with VPP, DPDK, and the Linux kernel network subsystem
- Well-versed in virtual networks and overlays, SDN, NFV, DPI, network protocols, routing and tunneling, BGP, and MPL
We conduct coding interviews as part of the process.
#LI-JS1
Benefits & Perks:
- Competitive compensation
- Career growth and learning opportunities
- Flexibility and ownership
- Collaborative and innovative culture
- Opportunity to work on impactful AI projects
- International environment and talented teams
What’s it like to work at Nebius:
Fast moving – Bold thinking – Constant growth – Meaningful impact – Trust and real ownership – Opportunity to shape the future of AI
Equal Opportunity Statement:
Nebius is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace and to providing equal employment opportunities in all aspects of employment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the country in which they apply and will be required to provide proof of employment eligibility as a condition of hire.
If you need accommodations during the application process, please let us know.
Annual salary information is not provided for this position. Explore salary ranges for similar roles in our Salary Directory ›
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