Proof Of Concept Test Engineer

Confidential

Santa Clara, California permanent

Posted: January 30, 2026

Job Description

Company Description:

Nexthop AI is a team of industry-leading professionals with deep hardware and software expertise spanning silicon, systems, network operations and cloud development, dedicated to building innovative, bleeding-edge solutions for large-scale AI deployments. The team culture thrives on collaboration, creativity and fun while delivering foundational technologies for next-generation AI infrastructure.

Job Responsibilities:

Deliver exceptional customer experiences by executing thorough technical proof of concepts for new products and solutions that match customer deployments

Develop deep expertise in our products and solutions - collaborate closely with Software and Hardware Engineering teams to diagnose issues and with Customer Engineering team to ensure customer success

Responsible for testing our products (hardware and software) for functionality, scale and performance, network operations and interoperability, benchmarking against customer specific requirements

Maintain documentation of detailed test plans, topologies vetted by customers and drive fixes for issues encountered during POC to enhance our product offering and test coverage

Present the POC findings to internal and external stakeholders

Responsible to maintain the testbed across multiple product generations

Required to invest in automation best practices, maximize throughput and minimize time taken to support multiple POCs

Qualifications: We're seeking individuals who thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative startup and possess exceptional problem-solving skills and a strong aptitude for taking initiative and learning. Additionally we value individuals who practice and instill customer empathy. The following skills are essential for this role,

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related field

Minimum 10 years of experience in Proof of Concept or Systems/Solutions Testing across network technologies

Leadership roles require 15+ years of experience delivering customer success in pre-sales/POC engagements

Proficient in networking technologies software with hands-on experience across diverse Network Operating Systems (NOS) such as IOS, IOS-XR, EOS, and Junos

Experience with SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud) or any Open source OS is highly desirable

Proven ability to effectively debug and troubleshoot complex networking issues.

Significant experience in DevOps, Network Operations, or Network Engineering within a cloud provider or enterprise-level team

Why Us:

Our company bolsters all the advantages of working at a startup with the expertise of a seasoned team who have successfully built startups into thriving companies. Here you’ll have the unique opportunity to collaborate and learn from top-tier engineers, while still working on mission critical projects. If you are excited to learn, solve hard problems at the forefront of computer systems, and be a part of shaping a burgeoning company, this is the place for you.

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