Principal AI Systems Performance Engineer

Responsibilities

• Bring up and optimize foundation models including DeepSeek, Llama, and Qwen on the SambaNova platform and software stack.
• Profile and improve model performance across compiler, runtime, and hardware layers to achieve state-of-the-art throughput and latency.
• Collaborate with machine learning, compiler, runtime, and hardware teams on co-designed, high-performance AI applications.
• Integrate advances in model architecture, quantization, scheduling, and memory optimization.
• Develop scalable, efficient end-to-end inference solutions aligned with customer needs.
• Identify performance bottlenecks and propose dataflow or scheduling optimizations for single-node and distributed systems.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field such as applied mathematics, physics, or statistics.
• At least 3 years of experience in deep-learning model development and performance optimization, compiler/runtime/kernel optimization, software-hardware co-design, or systems performance tuning.
• Proficiency in Python or C++ with strong foundations in algorithms, data structures, and numerical computing.
• Experience with at least one major ML framework: PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and optimize performance in real-world ML pipelines.
• Preferred experience includes LLM or multimodal model training and inference, distributed training, continuous batching, high-throughput inference, quantization, graph optimization, kernel fusion, and model partitioning.
• Preferred familiarity with DeepSpeed, Megatron, vLLM, TensorRT, CUDA, Triton, OpenCL, cuDNN, or cuBLAS.
• Knowledge of memory hierarchy optimization, caching, and scheduling for large-scale model execution is preferred.
• Publication records or open-source contributions in ML systems or performance optimization are a plus.

Benefits

• US-based full-time employees receive medical insurance with 95% employee premium coverage and 77% dependent premium coverage.
• Health Savings Account with employer contribution, Dental, Vision, short- and long-term disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, AD&D, and Flexible Spending Account options are offered.
• Well-being benefits include Headspace, Gympass+ with physical gym access, One Medical, counseling, and an Employee Assistance Program.