{"id":678911,"url":"https://alion.io/job/friendli-software-engineer-ai-inference-engine","title":"Software Engineer – AI Inference Engine","company":{"id":673295,"name":"FriendliAI","domain":"friendli.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/friendli","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"C","score":68,"open_postings":17,"ghost_share":0.529,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Seoul, South Korea"],"countries":["KR"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Diffusion Models","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Hugging Face","optional":true},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-04-22T01:29:38Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-04-22","last_verified_at":"2026-10-31T18:53:55Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":192,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale","company_stale"],"days_open":192},"description":"About the Job\nWe are seeking a highly technical Inference Engine Engineer to optimize the performance and efficiency of our core inference engine. In this role, you will focus on designing, implementing, and optimizing GPU kernels and supporting infrastructure for next-generation generative and agentic AI workloads. Your work will directly power the most latency-critical and compute-intensive systems deployed by our customers.\nWe are looking for an exceptional engineer with a strong foundation in GPU programming and compiler infrastructure. The ideal candidate enjoys pushing performance boundaries and has experience supporting production-scale machine learning applications.\nKey Responsibilities\nDesign and optimize custom GPU kernels for AI (e.g., transformer and diffusion) workloads\n\nContribute to the development of FriendliAI’s kernel compiler, memory planner, runtime, and other core components.\n\nCollaborate with cloud and infrastructure engineers to ensure end-to-end inference performance\n\nAnalyze performance bottlenecks across the software and hardware stack, and implement targeted optimizations\n\nDrive support for new model architectures and tensor compute patterns\n\nMaintain production-grade performance infrastructure, including profiling, benchmarking, and validation tools\n\nQualifications\n5+ years of experience in production or high-impact research environments\n\nProduction-level expertise in Python and C++\n\nBachelor’s or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent\n\nExperience developing machine learning frameworks or performance-critical runtime systems\n\nHands-on experience writing and optimizing GPU kernels\n\nHands-on experience profiling GPU kernels\n\nExperience working with generative AI models such as transformer and diffusion models\n\nPreferred Experience\nExperience developing machine learning compilers or code generation systems\n\nFamiliarity with dynamic shape compilation, memory planning, and kernel fusion\n\nContributions to inference engines, compilers, or high-performance numerical libraries\n\nUnderstanding of multi-GPU and distributed inference strategies\n\nBenefits\nFlexible working hours\n\nDaily lunch and dinner provided; unlimited snacks and beverages\n\nSupportive and highly collaborative work environment\n\nHealth check-up support and top-tier equipment/hardware support\n\nA front-row seat to the generative AI infrastructure revolution\n\nCompetitive compensation, startup equity, health insurance, and other benefits.\n\nAbout FriendliAI\nFriendliAI is building the world’s best AI inference platform that makes large language and multi-modal models fast, efficient, and deployable at scale. We power high-throughput, low-latency AI workloads for organizations worldwide and integrate directly with Hugging Face, giving developers instant access to over 600,000 open-source models.\nWe are a small, fast-moving team doing work that matters at one of the most exciting moments in the history of technology. 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