Head of Storage

About the role

We are looking for a Head of Storage to own the end-to-end technical strategy and execution for our foundational storage infrastructure at Scaleway. You will define the long-term vision for object and block storage platforms that underpin our sovereign cloud offerings. This role requires you to translate complex technical constraints into clear engineering direction for a large distributed systems team. You will be accountable for ensuring that our storage solutions meet the highest standards of performance, reliability, and scalability for thousands of customers. You will operate at the intersection of open-source innovation and production excellence, driving architectural decisions that shape our product capabilities. Ultimately, you will lead the Storage Tribe in building the critical infrastructure that empowers our customers to run their most demanding workloads with confidence in Europe.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Define and execute the global technological vision for the Storage department, setting the direction for object and block storage roadmaps.
• Manage and mentor a hierarchy of Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and Contributors, fostering a culture of benevolence and engineering excellence across 30-50 Scalers.
• Guarantee the performance, reliability, and SLA adherence of our storage platforms through rigorous operational standards and production best practices.
• Drive low-level architectural decisions for distributed systems, leveraging open-source technologies such as Ceph, ZFS, and NFS to build robust solutions.
• Collaborate closely with Product teams and other technical directions to ensure engineering output aligns with business strategy and the sovereign cloud mission.
• Act as the high-level escalation point for critical technical incidents, applying pragmatic problem-solving techniques like "rubber ducking" to resolve complex blockers.
• Oversee the recruitment, development, and career progression of specialized technical profiles, ensuring the growth of high-potential engineers in a niche domain.
• Champion contribution and usage of open-source technologies, balancing innovation with stability to advance our infrastructure capabilities.
• Implement governance frameworks that enforce production standards while enabling experimentation and innovation within the Storage Tribe.
• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives to integrate storage solutions with broader platform services and AI capabilities.
• Monitor industry trends and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for architectural improvement and competitive advantage.
• Establish clear technical documentation and knowledge transfer processes to ensure continuity and scalability of storage operations.
• Lead capacity planning and infrastructure scaling strategies to manage hundreds of petabytes of data effectively.
• Partner with SRE and platform teams to optimize storage performance, resilience, and cost-efficiency at massive scale.

Requirements

• Bring 10+ years of experience in engineering, with a strong background in low-level development, production, and storage systems.
• Demonstrate deep technical mastery of storage technologies including Object Storage, Block Storage, Ceph, ZFS, and NFS.
• Show proficiency in system programming languages such as C, C++, Rust, or Go.
• Exhibit advanced proficiency in Linux/FreeBSD internals and system profiling techniques.
• Maintain a strong track record of contribution to or usage of open-source technologies in production environments.
• Prove experience managing managers and leading technical teams in a production environment with high availability requirements.
• Display a deep understanding of distributed systems principles and their application to real-world storage challenges.
• Commit to upholding Scaleway's principles of simplicity, flexibility, and technical excellence in all engineering decisions.
• Align with the mission of building a sovereign cloud that provides a serious alternative to American and Asian technology giants.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with distributed encoding techniques and data protection mechanisms at scale.
• Experience contributing to or managing large-scale infrastructure projects in the cloud sector.
• Background in AI or high-performance computing workloads and their storage requirements.
• Knowledge of containerization and orchestration platforms that interact with storage layers.
• Previous work in international teams within European tech companies focused on cloud infrastructure.

Practical notes

• Hybrid work model with up to 3 days of remote work per week.
• Offices are located in Paris, Lille, Toulouse, Rennes, Rouen, Bordeaux and Lyon.
• Most offices feature outdoor spaces such as terraces and bike parking facilities.
• Dining options include a healthy meal service at headquarters and breakfast available across all sites.
• Scalers working from regional sites enjoy a Swile card for local transit and local partners.
• The role reports directly to the Director of Engineering.
• Team size ranges from 30 to 50 engineers within the Storage Tribe.
• This is a long-term full-time position with significant impact on Scaleway's strategic direction.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in France without sponsorship, as the company cannot provide visa sponsorship for this role.
• Travel requirements are minimal, with potential internal meetings across European offices as needed.