Clockwork Systems, Inc.

Senior Software Engineer – Time Synchronization

Clockwork Systems, Inc.  •  $150k - $230k/yr  •  Palo Alto, CA (Onsite)  •  2 months ago
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Job Description

About Clockwork Systems

Clockwork.io – Software Driven Fabrics to increase GPU cluster utilization

Clockwork Systems was founded by Stanford researchers and veteran systems engineers who share a vision for redefining the foundations of distributed computing. As AI workloads grow increasingly complex, traditional infrastructure struggles to meet the demands of performance, reliability, and precise coordination. Clockwork is pioneering a software-driven approach to AI fabrics by delivering cross-stack observability to catch and quickly resolve problems, workload fault tolerance to keep jobs running through failures, and performance acceleration that dynamically routes and paces traffic to avoid congestion.

To learn more, visit www.clockwork.io

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Engineer to lead development of our Core ClockSync systems. This role focuses on building and scaling low-latency, highly accurate time synchronization infrastructure across distributed environments. You will work at the intersection of distributed systems, networking, and systems engineering to ensure correctness, reliability, and performance of time coordination across clusters and services.

What You Will Do

  • Design and implement core time synchronization algorithms and services
  • Improve accuracy, drift correction, and fault tolerance of distributed clocks
  • Build globally scalable services that operate under tight latency and consistency constraints
  • Develop observability systems for clock health, skew detection, and anomaly analysis
  • Optimize performance at the OS, kernel, and network levels where necessary
  • Collaborate with infrastructure, platform, and product teams
  • Lead technical direction and mentor engineers

What We’re Looking For

  • 6+ years of experience in systems or distributed systems engineering
  • Strong proficiency in C++ and Go
  • Deep understanding of distributed systems concepts (consensus, replication, fault tolerance)
  • Experience with time synchronization protocols (NTP, PTP) or related domains
  • Familiarity with Linux systems programming and networking stacks
  • Experience debugging low-level performance and correctness issues
  • Strong problem-solving and design skills

Nice to Have

  • Experience with kernel development or eBPF
  • Background in real-time systems or high-frequency trading infrastructure
  • Knowledge of hardware clocks, NIC timestamping, or GPS-based timing
  • Experience operating large-scale distributed systems in production

Enjoy

  • Challenging projects.
  • A friendly and inclusive workplace culture.
  • Competitive compensation.
  • A great benefits package.
  • Catered lunch.

Compensation for this position will vary based on the skills and experience you bring, as well as internal equity considerations. For candidates hired at the posted level, the expected base salary range is $150,000 - $230,000The offered compensation package may also include stock options or other equity awards, subject to Clockwork’s equity program and applicable approvals.

Clockwork Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building world-class teams by welcoming bright, passionate individuals from all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. We believe diversity drives innovation, and we grow stronger together.

Clockwork Systems, Inc.

About Clockwork Systems, Inc.

Clockwork is the Software-Driven Fabric company for AI and high-performance workloads. Its FleetIQ intelligence layer addresses AI's core scaling bottleneck: communication between GPUs, clusters, and clouds. Positioned between workloads and infrastructure, FleetIQ observes, predicts, and controls in real time-maximizing GPU utilization and accelerating job completion. Delivered in pure software across heterogeneous networks, it transforms communication from the weakest link into a unified control plane that classifies flows by intent, steers around hot paths, and paces traffic to protect priority work-unlocking dramatically higher utilization. By turning idle silicon into productive intelligence, Clockwork enables enterprises, neoclouds, and hyperscalers to do more with the same GPUs-making AI faster, reliable, efficient, and sustainable. Companies including Uber, Wells Fargo, DCAI, Nebius, Nscale, and White Fiber trust Clockwork to power their most demanding workloads. Learn more at www.clockwork.io.

Industry
IT & Software
Company Size
11-50 employees
Headquarters
Palo Alto, CA
Year Founded
2018
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