Runware adds senior engineers from NVIDIA, OpenAI and NetApp

Runware is expanding its engineering leadership with three senior hires from NVIDIA, OpenAI and NetApp as it scales its AI cloud and modular data center business. The move follows a $50 million Series A, a serverless GPU launch and a new factory plan for building Sonic Pods in San Francisco and beyond.

Why it matters: - Runware is trying to control more of the AI infrastructure stack, from factory-built pods to the APIs developers use. - The hires strengthen the company’s ability to scale GPU compute, security and orchestration as demand grows. - The additions come as Runware pushes a lower-cost alternative to conventional neoclouds and hyperscalers.

What happened: - Runware announced three senior engineering hires on November 5, 2026. - Risto Haukioja joined as Head of Infrastructure Engineering after working at NVIDIA. - Matti Oikarinen joined as Chief Information Security Officer after working at OpenAI. - Matt Baldwin joined as Principal Engineer, AI Infrastructure after working at NVIDIA. - All three hires are based in the United States. - The hires expand Runware’s engineering presence in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The details: - Runware closed a $50 million Series A in December 2025. - Runware launched Runware Serverless, a serverless GPU platform, in October. - Runware also unveiled a modular AI data center factory last week. - The factory is designed to build Sonic Pods, Runware’s modular containerized data centers, on an assembly line at up to 30 megawatts of capacity a day. - NVIDIA’s DSX POD reference design, announced at GTC Berlin, aligns with the architecture Runware has been pursuing. - Runware says its infrastructure combines serverless and dedicated GPU compute on hardware the company designs, builds and operates itself. - Runware says that model delivers capacity at around half the cost of a conventional neocloud and an order of magnitude below traditional hyperscalers. - Haukioja previously worked on NVIDIA NIM, NVIDIA’s inference microservices platform. - Haukioja spent eight years at NVIDIA focused on AI inference and performance engineering. - Haukioja also worked at Hewlett Packard in Europe and the United States and co-authored Cloud Computing Architected: Solution Design Handbook in 2011. - Haukioja has co-founded three software companies and holds a master’s degree from Aalto University in Helsinki. - At Runware, Haukioja leads engineering for the systems that run and manage the company’s GPU infrastructure. - Oikarinen worked on frontier AI security at OpenAI. - Oikarinen’s background includes senior roles at Goldman Sachs, Yahoo, Amazon and Nokia. - Oikarinen worked on Yahoo’s user database serving more than 3 billion users. - Oikarinen also worked on Amazon Elastic File System. - Oikarinen holds an extensive portfolio of patents. - At Runware, Oikarinen leads information security, enterprise requirements and trust for scaled infrastructure. - Baldwin was Director of Engineering for large-scale Kubernetes across DGX Cloud at NVIDIA. - Baldwin led the teams behind the control plane for NVIDIA’s GPU data centers. - Baldwin founded StackPointCloud in 2014 and grew it to more than 10,000 users before NetApp acquired it in 2018. - Baldwin later served as NetApp’s Director of Cloud Native Engineering and Chief Kubernetes Architect. - At Runware, Baldwin is focused on deploying, orchestrating and scaling the infrastructure behind the platform.

Between the lines: - The hiring spree signals Runware is building for a more vertically integrated business, not just a cloud marketplace. - Bringing in leaders with NVIDIA, OpenAI and NetApp pedigrees suggests the company is prioritizing production-grade AI infrastructure, security and scale. - Runware’s emphasis on factory-built data centers points to a bet that speed, cost and control will matter as much as raw compute.

What’s next: - Runware plans to keep scaling its hardware footprint and infrastructure team. - The company said further detail on each appointment is available on its blog. - Runware also directed readers to more information on the factory announcement and Sonic Pods.

The bottom line: - Runware is assembling senior talent to match its aggressive push into AI compute infrastructure, with modular data centers and in-house GPU operations at the center of its strategy.