Manager, IT Infrastructure (Storage, Compute, & Virtualization)

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars. MANAGER, IT INFRASTRUCTURE (STORAGE, COMPUTE & VIRTUALIZATION) SpaceX is looking for an experienced IT infrastructure manager with deep knowledge of enterprise compute, virtualization, and storage platforms.

This person will manage a world-class team of IT engineers focused on the design, development, and operation of the server, hypervisor, and storage systems that support SpaceX engineering, production, and mission teams. The ideal candidate should be a self-starter with excellent motivation, leadership, and ingenuity, and should be interested in a hands-on management position. You will coach, motivate, and lead the team, while remaining capable of designing, troubleshooting, and executing on the platforms yourself.

  RESPONSIBILITIES: Own the architecture, lifecycle, and day-to-day operation of enterprise compute, virtualization, and storage platforms that support SpaceX engineering, production, and mission workloads. Manage and continuously develop a team of highly capable engineers and administrators who design, build, and operate hypervisor clusters, purpose-built servers, and high-performance storage systems (NAS, SAN, and object storage).

Lead capacity planning, performance engineering, and standards for compute and storage so hardware and software platforms stay ahead of demand from SpaceX engineering teams. Design, implement, and report on high-availability, backup, replication, and disaster recovery strategies for virtual machines, datastores, and storage arrays. Mentor systems engineers in designing, configuring, and supporting purpose-built servers and virtualization hosts, with emphasis on performance-optimized, resilient designs.

Establish hardware and platform standards for servers, hypervisors, and storage; submit and track orders; and work with server and storage vendors to negotiate pricing and ensure availability. Supervise installation, configuration, firmware/lifecycle management, and decommission of servers, hypervisor hosts, and storage systems. Drive automation of provisioning, patching, and operational tasks across compute and storage (templates, infrastructure as code, and scripting) so the team can scale without linear headcount growth.

Partner with network, facilities, security, and application teams on connectivity, power/cooling constraints, access controls, and workload placement — without owning data center mechanical/electrical systems. Schedule and provide off-peak or weekend support when necessary to perform high-risk or planned downtime of SpaceX compute, virtualization, and storage systems for upgrades and maintenance. Interact with internal business units to provide solutions and resolve problems in a timely and proactive manner.

  BASIC QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline and 5+ years of hands-on experience in two or more of the following: enterprise-class server/compute infrastructure design, server virtualization platforms, and enterprise storage platforms (NAS, SAN, and/or object storage); OR 8+ years in enterprise-class server/compute infrastructure design, server virtualization platforms, and enterprise storage platforms (NAS, SAN, and/or object storage) in lieu of a degree.

5+ years of experience leading and managing technical IT teams. PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: Experience architecting and operating enterprise storage, including protocols and platforms such as NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NVMe-oF, NetApp, Pure Storage, and object storage. Experience operating production virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere/vCenter (clustering, HA, DRS, vMotion, datastore design) and/or Hyper-V or KVM.

Deep expertise generating server and h