VP, Server Ops

Built to set the gold standard for integrated AI infrastructure

Crux AI is a newly formed, U.S.-based integrated AI infrastructure company created to remove the physical and operational constraints on consequential AI ambitions. Crux brings together power, high-density data centers, TPU silicon, networking, orchestration software, and ongoing operations as one integrated system.

Crux is being capitalized to plan every layer together, develop each one to demanding standards, and operate the whole system with efficiency and reliability. That gives hyperscalers, frontier AI labs, sovereign customers, enterprises, and AI-native companies greater freedom to pursue the AI they are here to create.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

You will own Crux's physical server fleet, from the integration line to the data hall and through every repair until decommission. Reporting to our CTPO, you will build and lead the ServerOps organization that integrates, deploys, accepts, maintains, and retires our TPU racks across every site, and you will run the partnerships with Google and our integration and manufacturing partners that put hardware on the floor. Your organization is the bridge between a finished data hall and a cluster a customer can run on: the time from rack arrival to customer-ready capacity, the share of the fleet in service, and the speed of every repair are yours. You will build the team from near zero while delivering our first production TPU clusters, and you will run it as an engineered system, with automation and AI agents doing the work that other operators staff with people.

In this role, you will:

• Own the server hardware lifecycle across the fleet: rack integration, factory and site acceptance, deployment, burn-in, break-fix, firmware, spares, and decommission.

• Run the operating relationship with Google and our rack integration and manufacturing partners on build quality, delivery schedules, failure analysis, RMA, and corrective action.

• Partner with Capacity Delivery and Facility Operations so that every site moves from rack arrival to customer-ready capacity on the committed date, and own the readiness gates at that handoff.

• Build and lead the site ServerOps teams and the technicians, engineers, and managers who keep the fleet healthy, with safety and quality standards that hold at every site.

• Own the fleet metrics that matter to customers: share of capacity in service, time to repair, failure rates by component, and time from rack arrival to customer-ready, and review them every week.

• Lead new hardware introductions with Compute, Network Engineering, and Google, so that each new TPU generation and rack design is deployable, serviceable, and operable at scale before it reaches the floor.

• Work with AI Ops to automate diagnosis, repair dispatch, and RMA workflows, so the fleet grows faster than the team that runs it.

SIGNALS OF SUCCESS

After 60 days in this role:

• Gained a complete understanding of the capacity plan of record, the TPU rack design, and the first-site deployment plan, and published the ServerOps operating model, from integration through decommission, for the first build.

• Locked the integration, acceptance, and RMA process with Google and our integration partners for the first build, and named the leaders for each part of it.

• Adapted to a fast-paced environment, triaging appropriately and continuously improving our function.

After 6 months:

• Delivered the hardware for the first production TPU cluster through deployment and acceptance on the committed timeline.

• Stood up fleet metrics, including capacity in service, time to repair, and rack-to-customer time, that leadership reviews weekly, with targets for each.

• Demonstrated an AI-forward and automated approach to this role: you have built, in a hands-on way, AI-enabled tools for diagnosis, repair dispatch, or supply tracking that the team uses every day.

After 1 year:

• Running ServerOps across multiple sites with a repeatable deployment and repair playbook, with each site faster to bring up than the last.

• Built a ServerOps organization with strong leaders at every site and a bench ready for the next wave of capacity.

• Kept more of the fleet in service, for longer, at a lower operating cost per chip than at the start of the year.

EXPERIENCES, ATTRIBUTES AND MINDSET THAT INDICATE A GOOD MATCH

Experiences

• 15+ years in server hardware operations, data center infrastructure, or hardware manufacturing at hyperscale, including 7+ years leading organizations of organizations across multiple sites.

• Owned the deployment and operation of a large production server fleet end to end, including integration, acceptance, break-fix, RMA, and lifecycle, against committed capacity dates.

• Ran operating relationships with ODMs, OEMs, or rack integrators on build quality, delivery, and failure analysis, from either the operator or the supplier side.

Attributes

• You are outcome driven and hands-on. You can walk a data hall, read a failure trend, and debug a stuck deployment with your team, then take the same topic to the board.

• You build teams that run at many sites without losing quality. Safety, quality, and discipline hold when you are not in the room.

• You have a high tolerance for ambiguity. You absorb ambiguity and navigate complexity rather than passing it along.

Mindset

• You are skeptical by default. "The racks are landed" is a hypothesis until the cluster passes acceptance and serves a customer. You build the system that makes the next deployment boring.

• You operate as an owner, not an advisor.

• You are AI-agentic first. Fluent with AI agents, or committed to becoming so quickly, you embed them as first principles in how you and your team work, defaulting to agentic workflows before adding headcount or process.

Nice to have (Preferred, not required):

• Server or hardware operations leadership at a hyperscaler (Google, Meta, Microsoft, AWS) or a neocloud (CoreWeave, Nebius, Lambda, Crusoe).

• Leadership at a rack integrator, ODM, or OEM (for example Jabil, Dell, Lenovo, Hyve, Foxconn, Quanta, or Wiwynn) on hyperscale programs.

• Experience deploying and operating TPU, GPU, or other accelerator clusters, including liquid-cooled racks.

• Experience leading hardware new product introduction from design release through volume deployment.

• Lean, Six Sigma, or similar operational excellence training, or an engineering degree.

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been estimated based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Crux

• We offer generous base, bonus and additional incentive based compensation

• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents

• Company-paid life insurance and disability

• Full suite of other optional benefits

• 401(k) Plan with 4% company match

• Hybrid schedule offering four days in-office collaboration paired with one remote workday for focused, individual work