Karman

Karman is a fast-growing NVIDIA-backed AI company enabling AI data centers to dynamically orchestrate power and unlock more compute capacity from existing energy infrastructure. For over a decade, we have applied AI to the electric grid - bringing real-time visibility and power-flow control to complex energy infrastructure. Our Karman platform, built on a custom NVIDIA module, brings that same capability to AI data centers, giving operators a way to better use the power already available to them. We are looking for an Application Engineer, Data Center Hardware to own the electrical power integration surface between Karman and customer data center environments. This person will design and validate rack-level power distribution, redundancy, and sequencing configurations, and lead the installation procedures that get Karman running reliably in production. The role requires solid working knowledge of rack-level networking to coordinate with customer network teams and support installation-time connectivity, but architecting network solutions is not a primary responsibility of this role. We are looking for candidates who are technically deep in electrical power systems, comfortable owning ambiguity, and energized by close, hands-on customer engagement. This is a founding role in a new Application Engineering function. Because the integration surface is still being defined, this role carries real influence over the processes, tools, and standards that future engineers will build on. Responsibilities Design and validate electrical power integration, including PDUs, power shelves, redundancy architectures, and power sequencing Build and validate complete rack configurations in Utilidata's lab (PDUs, power shelves, TOR switches, servers, and Karman hardware) before customer deployment, with primary focus on power system design and validation Design and own the installation checklists and procedures that guide electrical power integration at customer sites; ensure they are precise, repeatable, and executable by field teams Execute installation checklists and sign off on electrical power integration during initial customer deployments Debug rack-level issues spanning power, thermal, and mechanical domains, both in lab validation and at customer sites Support rack-level network connectivity as part of installation - applying VLAN assignments and switch port configurations to specifications provided by customer network engineering teams - without owning network architecture or design Coordinate with customer network engineering teams to align power integration work with existing network topologies and requirements Lead customer-facing technical calls and on-site visits with data center operations teams to gather electrical power integration requirements Create and maintain integration artifacts, including installation checklists, power validation checklists, configuration guides, KPI trackers, and after-action reports Support the TechOps team with electrical power expertise for escalated production incidents tied to initial installation Take an AI-first approach to building the Application Engineering function's repeatable processes, templates, and documentation Serve as the feedback loop between customer deployments and core engineering, translating field integration learnings into product improvements Participate in on-call rotation to provide 24x7 customer support Minimum Qualifications 6+ years of hands-on experience in data center network engineering, electrical power systems, or rack-level infrastructure integration Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field OR equivalent training and on the job experience Deep working knowledge of rack-level networking, including switching, VLANs, and network configuration across varied customer topologies Strong understanding of electrical power distribution at the rack level, including PDUs, power shelves, redundancy architectures, and power sequencing Demonstrated ability to configure rack-level infrastructure and integrate new hardware into existing data center environments using industry-standard tools, including TOR switch CLIs, SSH or serial console access, Wireshark, PDU management consoles, and NetBox or equivalent DCIM tooling Experience designing and executing installation and validation procedures, with the ability to own checklist creation and sign-off Ability to debug rack-level issues spanning power, thermal, mechanical, and networking domains Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to translate technical requirements clearly for both engineering teams and data center operations stakeholders High learning agility and the ability to ramp quickly in a fast-moving, early-stage product environment Willingness to travel periodically for customer site visits, initial installations, and deployment validation Enhanced Qualifications (Nice to Have) Experience with out-of-band management interfaces (e.g., IPMI, Redfish, iDRAC) for rack equipment configuration and monitoring Familiarity with power quality requirements, power sequencing, and electrical considerations specific to data center environments Understanding of thermal and mechanical integration considerations at the rack level Prior experience creating and owning field installation procedures or technician-facing documentation Experience working in a customer-facing or field-deployment engineering role Salary range: $175,000 to $245,000 base compensation depending on experience and level, plus stock options. This role spans multiple job levels; final level and compensation will be determined based on the candidate's experience. Location: This position can be performed remotely from within the United States. Preference will be given to candidates based in or around the Bay Area, CA. Periodic travel to customer data center sites and the company's HQ in Ann Arbor, MI is required. Our Commitments Karman values the diversity of our team. We provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or childbirth, sexual orientation, genetics, genetic information, marital status, or status as a covered veteran or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, and local laws. We are committed to: Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that is welcoming, supportive, affirming, and respectful Empowering employees to solve problems and work together to make a difference Providing mentorship and growth opportunities as part of a collaborative team A flexible work environment with flexible paid time off Competitive compensation and benefits, including health, dental, vision, and employer-match 401(k)

Karman is a fast-growing NVIDIA-backed AI company enabling AI data centers to dynamically orchestrate power and unlock more compute capacity from existing energy infrastructure. For over a decade, we have applied AI to the electric grid - bringing real-time visibility and power-flow control to complex energy infrastructure. Our Karman platform, built on a custom NVIDIA module, brings that same capability to AI data centers, giving operators a way to better use the power already available to them. We are building the Karman Digital Environment (KDE), a simulation platform that will evolve how Karman is developed, verified, and brought to market. Today, Karman is developed and verified against shared physical systems, including custom NVIDIA-based edge compute units that process sub-millisecond power waveform data and issue real-time control signals to GPU infrastructure. This is a hardware constraint that limits how fast teams can iterate. KDE will remove that constraint, enabling simulation-driven development at scale across every layer of fidelity, from rapid experimentation to high-confidence system validation. This is a technical leadership role reporting to the VP, AI & Applications, with company-wide impact across architecture, product, and customer-facing teams. Responsibilities Own the end-to-end architecture of KDE as the simulation platform for developing, testing, and validating Karman before production deployment. Architect systems spanning heterogeneous time domains - from sub-millisecond control paths to system-level orchestration - with coherent time management and deterministic behavior across both. Design and evolve the core simulation platform: time synchronization across paced (real-time SIL) and unpaced (batch) execution modes, signal routing and data flow orchestration, deterministic replay and scenario execution, and the platform APIs and data contracts consumed by algorithm, QA, product, and GTM teams. Define and maintain the platform's performance envelope - latency, jitter, throughput, and fidelity - and lead optimization across the full stack. Serve as the technical authority for simulation and validation methodology, partnering with algorithm, QA, product, hardware, firmware, and GTM teams to align platform capabilities with real-world Karman deployments. Build and lead an engineering team spanning real-time systems, simulation infrastructure, power systems modeling, and GPU calibration, while remaining deeply hands-on in architecture and critical technical decisions. Represent KDE on a standing cross-functional council with Algorithms, Product, GTM, and QA, arbitrating priorities across the platform's customers and maintaining architectural direction with senior peers. Minimum Qualifications Bachelor's or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Physics, or a related field 10+ years in systems architecture, simulation platforms, real-time or hardware-in-the-loop systems, embedded systems, or high-performance distributed platforms Experience as a hands-on player-coach leading small, high-performing engineering teams A proven track record designing and delivering simulation platforms or large-scale test systems that other engineering teams treat as production hardware, including data ingestion, telemetry, and playback at production scale, and the ability to design platform APIs and data contracts used by multiple teams Deep expertise in system-level behavior - scheduling, concurrency, memory access patterns, latency budgets, jitter measurement, and determinism at sub-millisecond scale Substantive fluency in the physics of the simulated domain - for this role, AC power distribution, control-loop dynamics, and electrical protection systems - is sufficient to make architectural decisions independently. Candidates from adjacent domains (automotive powertrain, aerospace propulsion, grid simulation, robotics dynamics) who've reached comparable depth will also be considered Experience leading or contributing to a novel modeling problem in the platform's domain Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex system designs for technical and non-technical stakeholders alike Willingness to travel up to 25% of time Enhanced Qualifications (Nice to Have) Experience with GPU-based systems or other accelerators, including power and performance tradeoffs Experience in data center power infrastructure or hyperscaler energy-aware computing Familiarity with AI inference serving systems (vLLM, TensorRT-LLM, Triton) sufficient to reason about workload-driven power dynamics Salary Range: $200,000 to $240,000 base compensation depending on experience and level, plus stock options. This role spans multiple job levels; final level and compensation will be determined based on the candidate's experience. Location: This position can be performed remotely from within the United States. Preference will be given to candidates based in or around the Bay Area (CA) or Ann Arbor, MI. Periodic travel to the company's HQ in Ann Arbor, MI is required. Our Commitments: Karman values the diversity of our team. We provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or childbirth, sexual orientation, genetics, genetic information, marital status, or status as a covered veteran or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state and local laws. We are committed to: Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that is welcoming, supportive, affirming and respectful Empowering employees to solve problems and work together to make a difference Providing mentorship and growth opportunities as part of a collaborative team A flexible work environment with flexible paid time off Competitive compensation and benefits, including health, dental, vision, and employer-match 401k

Karman is a fast-growing NVIDIA-backed AI company enabling AI data centers to dynamically orchestrate power and unlock more compute capacity from existing energy infrastructure. For over a decade, we have applied AI to the electric grid - bringing real-time visibility and power-flow control to complex energy infrastructure. Our Karman platform, built on a custom NVIDIA module, brings that same capability to AI data centers, giving operators a way to better use the power already available to them. The VP, AI & Applications leads the intelligence layer of Karman - the algorithms, control methods, and optimization techniques that turn microsecond-resolution measurement data into closed-loop control actions and quantifiable customer value. Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, this role owns how Karman creates value across the data center power system: the internal power distribution system, the utility connection, and ancillary loads and generation including cooling, capacitor shelves, and on-site solar plus battery. The VP partners with the VP, Engineering on the platform that runs these methods in production, and with VP, Product on how value is packaged and delivered to customers. Responsibilities Lead and set technical direction for the team responsible for Karman's algorithms, control methods, optimization, and applied research - including power flow control and closed-loop adaptive control - through direct management of a Director and Principal-level individual contributors Drive technical co-development with strategic technology partners across hardware, firmware, and commercial tracks, and provide customer-facing technical leadership, working with GTM and Product Develop and manage release plans for algorithms and applications work, with clear engineering direction, validation strategy, and tracking against committed product capabilities Partner with the VP, Engineering to ensure algorithms and control methods are designed for production deployment on the Karman software and hardware platform Stay hands-on early in the role and scale toward leader-of-leaders as the team grows Collaborate with the People Team to attract, onboard, and retain top talent in algorithms, applied AI, and control systems Optimize resource allocation, budgeting, and timelines for team effectiveness Develop and report on success metrics that measure the team's contribution to organizational objectives Minimum Qualifications 10-15+ years of professional experience leading teams that develop algorithms, control systems, optimization methods, or applied AI in production Deep technical background in one or more of: control theory, power systems, optimization, applied machine learning, or signal processing Demonstrated experience in algorithms and decision-making paradigms with edge AI tools, including control systems that run offline or isolated for extended periods Track record of developing leaders and growing the careers of senior engineers and researchers; sees mentorship and team development as a core measure of personal impact Demonstrated ability to lead a senior, technically deep team while remaining hands-on enough to shape architecture and methods directly Experience translating research and prototypes into shipped products in a startup or fast-moving environment Strong communication skills, including the ability to represent technical work credibly to executives, customers, and external technical organizations Experience with intellectual property strategy and the patent process Willingness to travel up to 20% of time Enhanced Qualifications (Nice to Have) PhD strongly preferred in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Control Systems, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, or a related technical discipline Experience with energy systems, power electronics, or grid-edge applications Published research, granted patents, or recognized contributions to control systems, applied AI, or power systems Background in real-time systems, deterministic control loops, or hard real-time operating systems Experience with digital twins, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, or co-simulation environments Salary Range: $230,000 to $290,000 base compensation depending on experience plus stock options. Salary will be commensurate with an individual's skills, training, years of experience, and in line with internal compensation bands. Location: This position can be performed remotely from anywhere in the United States. Our Commitments: Karman values the diversity of our team. We provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or childbirth, sexual orientation, genetics, genetic information, marital status, or status as a covered veteran or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state and local laws. We are committed to: Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that is welcoming, supportive, affirming and respectful Empowering employees to solve problems and work together to make a difference Providing mentorship and growth opportunities as part of a collaborative team A flexible work environment with flexible paid time off Competitive compensation and benefits, including health, dental, vision, and employer-match 401k

Karman is a fast-growing NVIDIA-backed AI company enabling AI data centers to dynamically orchestrate power and unlock more compute capacity from existing energy infrastructure. For over a decade, we have applied AI to the electric grid - bringing real-time visibility and power-flow control to complex energy infrastructure. Our Karman platform, built on a custom NVIDIA module, brings that same capability to AI data centers, giving operators a way to better use the power already available to them. The Power Applications team takes power control and orchestration algorithms from idea to production. We own the complete end-to-end process: developing power control and orchestration algorithms, translating them into deployable applications, and owning the deployment and maintenance of those applications in the field. As the Technical Lead, Power Applications, you will coordinate data scientists and software engineers to produce these applications, define repeatable and scalable workflows that let the team deliver efficiently, and act as the technical interface to other teams on the stack. This is a leadership role. While you will still spend meaningful time in the codebase, a large part of the work is communication, coordination, and project management. Your leverage comes from the designs you set, the standards you hold, the engineers you develop, and your ability to keep cross-functional work moving. Success in this role is measured by driving continuous delivery, building for scale and resilience, and navigating the demands of a rapidly growing company. This position works cross-functionally with product, engineering, and data science teams and is open to fully remote candidates, with periodic travel expected for company retreats and key on-site engagements. Responsibilities Enable the Power Applications team to own the end-to-end lifecycle of Utilidata's power control and orchestration applications, from algorithm development, through translation into deployable software, to deployment and ongoing maintenance in production Directly contribute to the Power Applications codebase and work with the team to define and own code quality standards and engineering workflows Serve as the senior individual contributor coordinating data scientists and software engineers, aligning the group on design and quality through architecture and code review Design continuous delivery workflows that bridge algorithm development and production, including the path from prototype code (e.g., Python) to the deployed application's language (e.g., Rust), so work moves to production smoothly and repeatably Act as the technical interface between Power Applications and other teams on the stack, establishing clear system boundaries, data contracts, and power application SLAs Contribute to system architecture discussions for the Karman platform as a whole, ensuring the subsystems that support power-flow control fit coherently into that wider architecture Build for reliability and scale so power applications run continuously across experimentation, staging, and deployed environments. Minimum Qualifications 10+ years of software engineering experience, including a track record of technical leadership on complex production systems Demonstrated ability to lead engineers through architecture, code review, and mentorship, and to raise the technical bar of a team Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with substantial experience working directly with stakeholders across teams Strong project management and technical planning skills - sequencing work, managing cross-team dependencies, translating product requirements into technical designs Strong foundation in distributed systems and reliability engineering: fault tolerance, graceful degradation, observability, and testing for systems that cannot go down Experience taking software from prototype to hardened production, ideally where the platform and requirements were still evolving Proficiency in Python and at least one systems language (C++, Rust, or Go) Willingness to travel up to 10% of time Enhanced Qualifications (Nice to Have) Hands-on experience with real-time, low-latency, or control systems : software that must respond within strict time bounds and behave predictably under load Experience with edge or embedded computing, especially on NVIDIA platforms (Jetson-class devices, CUDA, or NVML) Background in power systems, energy, industrial control, robotics, or another physical-world real-time domain) Experience productionizing ML models or algorithms in collaboration with data science teams Salary Range: $180,000 to $220,000 base compensation depending on experience and level, plus stock options. This role spans multiple job levels; final level and compensation will be determined based on the candidate's experience. Location: This position can be performed remotely from anywhere in the United States. Our Commitments: Karman values the diversity of our team. We provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or childbirth, sexual orientation, genetics, genetic information, marital status, or status as a covered veteran or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state and local laws. We are committed to: Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that is welcoming, supportive, affirming and respectful Empowering employees to solve problems and work together to make a difference Providing mentorship and growth opportunities as part of a collaborative team A flexible work environment with flexible paid time off Competitive compensation and benefits, including health, dental, vision, and employer-match 401k