Senior Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Responsibilities

• Define and drive technical strategy for ML model development, training pipelines, and inference systems on SambaNova’s RDU and broader hardware ecosystem.
• Lead hardware-software co-design with compiler, systems, and hardware teams to shape scalable architectural decisions.
• Identify, evaluate, and champion advanced ML techniques such as speculative decoding, reinforcement learning, mixture-of-experts, and long-context modeling.
• Serve as the senior technical voice in design reviews, architectural decisions, and cross-functional planning.
• Mentor and develop principal and senior ML engineers through collaboration, design feedback, and knowledge transfer.
• Partner with product and engineering leadership to translate ML capabilities into scalable solutions for SambaStack and SambaCloud.
• Resolve complex and ambiguous technical challenges spanning organizational boundaries and requiring novel approaches.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field is required; an MS or PhD is strongly preferred.
• 8+ years of industry experience in machine learning engineering, with technical leadership on large-scale or novel ML systems.
• Deep expertise in LLM training, fine-tuning, inference optimization, and evaluation at scale.
• Strong knowledge of ML algorithms, deep learning architectures, and modern training methodologies.
• Ability to lead and align cross-functional technical efforts, mentor senior engineers, and influence organizational direction without direct management authority.
• Track record of independently scoping and delivering high-complexity, high-ambiguity technical projects.

Benefits

• US-based full-time employees receive equity and benefits.
• Medical insurance premium coverage is 95% for employees and 77% for dependents, with an employer-contributed Health Savings Account.
• Dental, vision, short- and long-term disability, basic and voluntary life, AD&D, and Flexible Spending Account plans are offered.
• Well-being benefits include Headspace, Gympass+ with access to physical gyms, One Medical, counseling services, and an Employee Assistance Program.