Software Development Engineer, AIML, AWS Neuron, Model Inference

The Annapurna Labs team at Amazon builds AWS Neuron the software development kit used to accelerate deep learning and GenAI workloads on Amazons custom machine learning accelerators Inferentia and Trainium.

The AWS Neuron SDK developed by the Annapurna Labs team at AWS is the backbone for accelerating deep learning and GenAI workloads on Amazons Inferentia and Trainium ML accelerators. This comprehensive toolkit includes an ML compiler runtime and application framework that seamlessly integrates with popular ML frameworks like PyTorch and JAX enabling unparalleled ML inference and training performance.

The High-Performance Inference Systems & Acceleration team is at the forefront of running a wide range of models and supporting novel architecture alongside maximizing their performance for AWSs custom ML accelerators. Working across the stack from PyTorch till the hardware-software boundary our engineers build systematic infrastructure innovate new methods and create high-performance kernels for ML functions ensuring every compute unit is fine tuned for optimal performance for our customers demanding workloads. We combine deep hardware knowledge with ML expertise to push the boundaries of whats possible in AI acceleration.

As part of the broader Neuron organization our team works across multiple technology layers - from frameworks and kernels and collaborate with compiler to runtime and collectives. We not only optimize current performance but also contribute to future architecture designs working closely with customers to enable their models and ensure optimal performance. This role offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of machine learning high-performance computing and distributed architectures where youll help shape the future of AI acceleration technology

You will architect and implement business critical features and mentor a brilliant team of experienced engineers. We operate in spaces that are very large yet our teams remain small and agile. There is no blueprint. Were inventing. Were experimenting. It is a very unique learning culture. The team works closely with customers on their model enablement providing direct support and optimization expertise to ensure their machine learning workloads achieve optimal performance on AWS ML accelerators. The team collaborates with open source ecosystems to provide seamless integration and bring peak performance at scale for customers and developers.

This role is responsible for development enablement and performance tuning of a wide variety of LLM model families including massive scale large language models like the Llama family DeepSeek and beyond. The High-Performance Inference Systems & Acceleration team works side by side with compiler engineers and runtime engineers to create build and tune distributed inference solutions with Trainium and Inferentia. Experience optimizing inference performance for both latency and throughput on such large models across the stack from system level optimizations through to Pytorch or JAX is a must have.

You can learn more about Neuron
job responsibilities
This role will help lead the efforts in building distributed inference support for Pytorch in the Neuron SDK. This role will tune these models to ensure highest performance and maximize the efficiency of them running on the customer AWS Trainium and Inferentia silicon and servers. Strong software development using Python System level programming and ML knowledge are both critical to this role. Our engineers collaborate across compiler runtime framework and hardware teams to optimize machine learning workloads for our global customer base. Working at the intersection of software hardware and machine learning systems youll bring expertise in low-level optimization system architecture and ML model this role you will:

- Design develop and optimize machine learning models and frameworks for deployment on custom ML hardware accelerators.
- Participate in all stages of the ML system development lifecycle including distributed computing based architecture design implementation performance profiling hardware-specific optimizations testing and production deployment.
- Build infrastructure to systematically analyze and onboard multiple models with diverse architecture.
- Design and implement high-performance kernels and features for ML operations leveraging the Neuron architecture and programming models
- Analyze and optimize system-level performance across multiple generations of Neuron hardware
- Conduct detailed performance analysis using profiling tools to identify and resolve bottlenecks
- Implement optimizations such as fusion sharding tiling and scheduling
- Conduct comprehensive testing including unit and end-to-end model testing with continuous deployment and releases through pipelines.
- Work directly with customers to enable and optimize their ML models on AWS accelerators
- Collaborate across teams to develop innovative optimization techniques

A day in the life
You will collaborate with a cross-functional team of applied scientists system engineers and product managers to deliver state-of-the-art inference capabilities for Generative AI applications. Your work will involve debugging performance issues optimizing memory usage and shaping the future of Neurons inference stack across Amazon and the Open Source Community. As you design and code solutions to help our team drive efficiencies in software architecture youll create metrics implement automation and other improvements and resolve the root cause of software defects.

You will also build high-impact solutions to deliver to our large customer base and participate in design discussions code review and communicate with internal and external stakeholders. You will work cross-functionally to help drive business decisions with your technical input. You will work in a startup-like development environment where youre always working on the most important initiative.

About the team
The High-Performance Inference Systems & Acceleration team fosters a builders culture where experimentation is encouraged and impact is measurable. We emphasize collaboration technical ownership and continuous learning. Our team is dedicated to supporting new members. We have a broad mix of experience levels and tenures and were building an environment that celebrates knowledge-sharing and mentorship. Our senior members enjoy one-on-one mentoring and thorough but kind code reviews. We care about your career growth and strive to assign projects that help our team members develop your engineering expertise so you feel empowered to take on more complex tasks in the future. Join us to solve some of the most interesting and impactful infrastructure challenges in AI/ML today.

- Bachelors degree in computer science or equivalent
- 3 years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 3 years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Fundamentals of Machine learning and LLMs their architecture training and inference lifecycles along with work experience on some optimizations for improving the model execution.
- Software development experience in C Python (experience in at least one language is required).
- Strong understanding of system performance memory management and parallel computing principles.
- Deep understanding of computer architecture operation systems level software and working knowledge of parallel computing.
- Proficiency in debugging profiling and implementing best software engineering practices in large-scale systems.

- Masters degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science or equivalent.
- Familiarity with PyTorch JIT compilation and AOT tracing.
- Familiarity with CUDA kernels or equivalent ML or low-level kernels
- Candidates with performant kernel development such as CUTLASS FlashInfer etc. would be well suited.
- Familiar with syntax and tile-level semantics similar to Triton.
- Experience with online/offline inference serving with vLLM SGLang TensorRT or similar platforms in production environments.

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status disability or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees supervisors and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees supervisors and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal state and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct adverse and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies exercise sound judgment effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism and safeguard business operations and the Companys reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process including support for the interview or onboarding process please visit for more information. If the country/region youre applying in isnt listed please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience qualifications and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical dental vision prescription Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans EAP Mental Health Support Medical Advice Line Flexible Spending Accounts Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage) 401(k) matching paid time off and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at CA Cupertino - 165200.00 - 223600.00 USD annually
USA WA Seattle - 143700.00 - 194400.00 USD annually

Required Experience:

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