Job Details

Over 50,000 customers globally trust our end-to-end, cloud-driven networking solutions. They rely on our top-rated services and support to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and deliver unprecedented progress. With double-digit growth year over year, no provider is better positioned to deliver scalable outcomes than Extreme.

Inclusion is one of our core values and in our DNA. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace that embraces our differences and creates an atmosphere where all our employees thrive because of their differences, not in spite of them.

Become part of Something big with Extreme! As a global networking leader, learn why there's no better time to join the Extreme team.

Principal API Architect, AI & Microservices

Are you energized by the idea innovating with generative AI? Do you aspire to create a global impact while tackling challenges at the forefront of ML and microservices? Do you want to be part of the team working on groundbreaking products that define the future of AI-driven network management? Then come, advance with us.

This is an incredible opportunity to innovate new networking experiences while working at the cutting edge of generative AI, IoT, big data, cloud computing and microservices. We are specifically seeking an expert in API design for microservices, someone who can establish and enforce industry-best practices for API architecture and lifecycle management (e.g., forward/backward compatibility, schema evolution, versioning, idempotency, and dynamic throttling) and make those APIs frictionless for consumption by AI/agentic systems. In this role, you will play a pivotal part in shaping the Core AI foundation by architecting APIs that serve as the backbone for agentic and generative AI capabilities across Extreme's platform. You will partner closely with AI engineers to ensure APIs are consistently modeled (OpenAPI/JSON Schema/AsyncAPI), secure, resilient, observable, and agent-friendly (clear contracts, tool/function specs, streaming support, and robust error taxonomies).

This is a greenfield project in which you will help define every aspect of user and product experience and drive significant portions of the technical and scientific roadmaps.

There has never been a better time to join Extreme, after several acquisitions extending our portfolio and go-to-market strategy, we have seen enormous opportunity and growth within the regions. Aside from being a Technology Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, we also adamantly promote an internal culture that truly embraces diversity, inclusion, and equality in the workplace. Having Diversity and Inclusion as part of our core values and beliefs, we're proud to foster an environment where every Extreme employee can thrive because of their differences, not despite them. Our motto here at Extreme is ‘Advance with us', and it applies to everyone we work with – inside and outside the company.

Job Responsibilities

• Define and govern API standards across REST/gRPC and event-driven interfaces, emphasizing forward/backward compatibility, additive change safety, and clear deprecation policies.
• Design APIs that form the Core AI integration layer, delivering high-quality, machine-readable contracts, consistent resource models, typed error codes, and agent/tool specifications suitable for function calling and automation.
• Integrate Model Context Protocol (MCP) principles into API design to ensure seamless interoperability with AI agents and orchestration frameworks. This includes defining tool schemas, context negotiation, and safe execution boundaries for agent-driven workflows.
• Partner with AI/ML teams to optimize APIs for agentic workflows: streaming, pagination tokens, consistent envelopes, explicit contracts for tool use, and predictable rate-limit headers for planner/runtime alignment.
• Champion Operational Excellence (OE) and Engineering Excellence (EE) for API lifecycle: design reviews, contract/consumer-driven testing, schema evolution, semantic versioning, release notes, and automated documentation/SDK generation.
• Advance resiliency patterns: idempotency, retries with jitter, circuit breakers, dynamic throttling for bursty AI Workloads, timeouts, request hedging, long-running job orchestration, and zero-downtime deployments.
• Mentor engineers and set governance: reviews, linting rules, style guides, compliance, golden paths, and reference implementations that promote repeatable excellence.
• Collaborate across product & platform teams to align API roadmaps with business outcomes, ensuring compatibility across Extreme's portfolio and partner ecosystems.

Basic Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science or related field.
• 8+ years designing and building large-scale microservices and APIs; 3+ years driving API standards or architecture across multiple teams.
• Deep expertise with REST/gRPC and OpenAPI 3.1 / JSON Schema / AsyncAPI, with proven ability to design APIs that are forward/backward compatible and optimized for machine consumption.
• Hands‑on experience implementing MCP‑compliant APIs for AI orchestration, including tool schema definition, context negotiation, and secure execution boundaries.
• Strong grasp of security for AI‑integrated systems: fine‑grained scopes, and safe execution boundaries for agent‑driven workflows.
• Hands‑on experience with dynamic throttling, adaptive rate limiting, and quota enforcement to support AI‑driven bursty workloads and multi‑agent orchestration.
• Experience with resilience patterns critical for AI orchestration: idempotency keys, retries with jitter, circuit breakers, timeouts, and bulkheads for high‑concurrency environments.
• Cloud‑native delivery on AWS/Azure/GCP with container orchestration (Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, and zero‑downtime deployment strategies (blue/green, canary).
• Solid programming skills in Golang, Java or Python with ability to generate SDKs and developer tooling for AI‑friendly APIs.
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional collaboration, capable of leading design reviews and documenting standards that enable AI/agentic integration at scale.

Preferred Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Computer Science or equivalent experience.
• Deep expertise in architecting distributed microservices and systems, either building them from the ground up or significantly enhancing existing architectures to boost availability and performance.
• Knowledge of agentic platforms, RAG pipelines, vector stores, and data contracts for AI‑driven workflows.
• Experience with API gateways and service meshes for policy enforcement and traffic shaping in AI‑heavy environments.
• Background in contract testing, fuzzing, chaos engineering, and performance benchmarking under AI‑scale loads.
• Networking domain exposure and real‑time systems optimized for AI inference loops.
• Awareness of data privacy/compliance for AI workloads (PII handling, retention, auditability) and multitenant isolation strategies.
• Experience partnering with product and program management teams.
• Strong understanding and passion for ML and generative AI.

Come work with a team of highly talented engineers, and advance with us to achieve new heights every day!

$200,000 - $300,000 a year

Extreme Networks, Inc. (EXTR) creates effortless networking experiences that enable all of us to advance. We push the boundaries of technology leveraging the powers of machine learning, artificial intelligence, analytics, and automation. Over 50,000 customers globally trust our end‑to‑end, cloud‑driven networking solutions and rely on our top‑rated services and support to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and deliver progress like never before. For more information, visit Extreme's website or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

We encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply. Come Advance with us! In keeping with our values, no employee or applicant will face discrimination/harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, or veteran status. Above and beyond discrimination/harassment based on “protected categories,” Extreme Networks also strives to prevent other, subtler forms of inappropriate behavior (e.g., stereotyping) from ever gaining a foothold in our organization. Whether blatant or hidden, barriers to success have no place at Extreme Networks.