Lead Computer Systems Engineer - Federal Focus on systems-critical applications and environments, including National Security related

Location: San Francisco, CA OR Washington, DC | Relocation Supported

Type: Full-time | Competitive Pay + Equity Start Date: ASAP What You'll Do

• Architect and deploy high-performance compute infrastructure across GPU clusters, FPGAs, and heterogeneous server environments
• Engineer computer systems spanning OSI layers 1–4: switch fabrics, NIC configuration, interconnects (InfiniBand, RoCE), and protocol-level optimization
• Build tooling for hardware discovery, configuration management, and debugging across complex multi-node HPC deployments
• Deliver infrastructure that meets performance, security, and compliance standards required for DoD, IC, and FedCiv missions
• Work directly with the founding team on zero-to-one product roadmap, U.S. government contracts, and operational deployments

What You Bring

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Active security clearance (Secret, TS/SCI, TS/SCI with polygraph)
• Prior experience working with the DoD, Intelligence Community, or U.S. federal civilian agencies
• CPU/GPU/FPGA architecture knowledge at the register and memory hierarchy level
• 4+ years of computer systems engineering experience in at least two of the following:
  • HPC/Compute Infrastructure: GPU cluster deployment (NVIDIA DGX, HGX), job schedulers (Slurm), bare-metal provisioning
  • Datacenter Networking: switch and router configuration, fabric tuning, packet-level debugging, redundancy and failover design
  • Hardware-Software Integration: FPGA development, SmartNICs, driver-level work, firmware, secure boot
  • Server/Embedded Systems: C/C++, Rust, real-time OS, kernel tuning, resource-constrained deployments
  • Experience with air-gapped or SCIF deployments

Extremely comfortable at the hardware-software boundary—serial consoles, JTAG, BMC/IPMI, bare metal bring-up

Bonus

• TS/SCI with polygraph
• Background in national lab HPC, IC programs (NSA, NRO, DISA), or classified compute environments
• Hands-on with datacenter hardware: rack-and-stack, cabling, power/thermal constraints, hardware lifecycle
• SDR/DSP, contested networking, or MILCOM experience
• Publications or open-source contributions in computer systems, networking, or compute infrastructure
• Advanced degree in Computer Engineering, EE, CS, or related field

Why Join We're a venture-backed startup building the hardware intelligence platform for physical AI and embedded systems—think "what observability did for cloud, but for the hardware layer." Our customers span defense, national labs, AI compute, and aerospace. If you want to work at the intersection of HPC infrastructure, embedded systems, and national security—let's talk.

How to Apply Email team@cosmiclabs.io with subject line: Lead Computer Systems Engineer – HPC/Defense / [Your Name] In the body:

• Your name
• Why this role and why Cosmic Labs
• What you bring technically
• Clearance status (active, inactive, or eligibility)
• Soonest available start date
• Availability over next 5 days for a phone call

Attachment: PDF resume