{"id":1301976,"url":"https://alion.io/job/lumai-software-inference-deployment-engineer","title":"Software Inference Deployment Engineer","company":{"id":3781035,"name":"Lumai","domain":"lumai.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/lumai","size_band":"11-50","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Oxford, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":82000,"max_usd":195000,"period":"year","method":"role_country_seniority_unknown","sample_n":283},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"CUDA","optional":false},{"name":"CUDA Toolkit","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"KV Cache","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"TensorRT","optional":false},{"name":"TensorRT-LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Triton","optional":false},{"name":"vLLM","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-17T08:59:40Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-06-17","last_verified_at":"2026-09-26T11:54:59Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":101,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale","company_stale"],"days_open":101},"description":"The Opportunity\nLumai is redefining how the world computes. We are an ambitious, venture-backed UK startup pioneering a breakthrough AI accelerator for data centers which uses 3D optical compute. Our radical technology uses light to perform computation at orders of magnitude faster speeds and at far greater scales than ever before, all whilst consuming far less energy than traditional approaches.\nLumai is unlocking performance and efficiency gains that could transform the economics of AI and compute infrastructure and reshape how intelligence scales globally.\nIf you are passionate about bringing groundbreaking technology to market, and want to be part of a team pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible, Lumai is where you can make it happen.\nAbout Lumai\nFounded in 2022, Lumai is a University of Oxford spinout using optical processing to accelerate large language models (LLMs) and other transformer-based AI systems. The team combines expertise in optical computing, machine learning, and physics.\nLumai has already secured over $15 million in investment from leading deep-tech investors like Constructor Capital, IP Group, PhotonVentures and government grants, and is scaling rapidly to deploy the fastest optical compute currently available globally.\nThe Role\nWe are bringing the world's first optical AI compute platform to market. As we move from development into field deployment, we are looking for a Software Inference Deployment Engineer to own the software-side integration and customer support of Lumai Iris servers in third-party data centre environments.\nYou will begin by working alongside our software and engineering teams - helping integrate the Iris software stack, supporting model onboarding through the toolchain, and getting hands-on with the disaggregated prefill/decode runtime. This is intentional: the best way to develop deep expertise in a novel platform is to build with it. As deployments go live, you will take ownership in the field - supporting customer integration into their inference stacks, troubleshooting software issues, and acting as a primary technical contact for customer ML and infrastructure engineering teams.\nThis is an opportunity to work at the cutting edge of efficient AI inference - deploying a genuinely novel compute platform into production for the first time, and playing a central role in how it reaches the world.\nWhat You'll Do\nWork alongside Lumai's software and engineering teams to integrate, test, and harden the Iris software stack ahead of deployment\n\nSupport model onboarding through the Iris toolchain - loading, conversion, and framework integration\n\nDevelop hands-on familiarity with the disaggregated prefill/decode runtime, including how Iris servers operate alongside decode processors\n\nSupport customer integration of Lumai Iris into their own frameworks\n\nOwn software-side troubleshooting in the field, acting as the first line of response post-deployment\n\nTrain and enable customer ML and infrastructure engineering teams on the Iris software platform\n\nFeed field findings, integration issues, and customer feedback back into product and engineering\n\nWhat We're Looking For\nMust-Have\nHands-on software engineering experience in AI infrastructure, inference serving, accelerator integration, or comparable deep-tech hardware-software environments\n\nStrong Python skills and familiarity with major ML frameworks (PyTorch in particular)\n\nPractical experience with model deployment workflows - loading, format conversion, quantisation, or framework integration\n\nComfortable working with inference serving stacks (for example vLLM, TensorRT-LLM, or similar)\n\nFamiliarity with Linux, containerisation (Docker), and cluster environments\n\nComfortable in a customer-facing role, able to communicate clearly with ML and infrastructure engineering teams\n\nComfortable working in a fast-moving, early-stage environment where the product and the deployment approach are both still being developed\n\nStrong Preference For\nExperience integrating accelerator hardware (GPUs, FPGAs, ASICs, NPUs, or novel architectures) into customer inference workflows\n\nFamiliarity with the NVIDIA inference stack - CUDA, TensorRT, Triton\n\nExposure to disaggregated inference architectures, prefill/decode separation, or KV cache management\n\nCompensation & Benefits\nHighly Competitive Salary: We are not saying our salary is a blank check, but let's just say it won't be a source of your stress\n\nShare Option Scheme: We are all in this together! We believe in shared success while we build the Lumai of tomorrow\n\nPension Scheme: Plan for retirement with AVIVA\n\nPrivate Health Insurance: We firmly believe that you come first, and a happy you is a healthy you! Look after yourself and your loved ones with AXA\n\nCycle to Work: Spread the cost of a bike, a bike and accessories or just accessories and save on tax\n\nL&D Allowance: Stay at the forefront of your field with a £500 annual development budget\n\nSubsidised On-site Lunches: Enjoy on-site healthy meals at half the price, as Lumai covers 50% of the cost\n\nHolidays: Enjoy some deserved \"me time\" with 25 days paid holiday (plus bank holidays) per year\n\nSocials: Be part of an inclusive community enjoying occasional all-company off-sites, lunches and socials\n\nInterview Process\nOur process is four stages. An initial conversation with our HR team to understand what you want from the role and what we want from it. Two technical sessions with our Product and Leadership team. Finally, an HR-team session covering scope, terms, and any final questions. We aim to move fast on candidates we are excited about; expect roughly three to four weeks end to end.\nLumai is an equal opportunity employer. We make hiring decisions on merit, scope-fit, and the strength of the working relationship we expect to build with each hire. Applications welcome from candidates of any background. If you are not sure whether you are a fit, send a note anyway.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5957,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Health insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United Kingdom","iso":"GB","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Artificial Intelligence","Cybersecurity"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-26T11:54:59Z"}],"liveness":{"score":16,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.266,"p_room":0.6,"age_days":101,"expected_fill_days":121,"reasons":["conf:16","ghost","win:late","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-09-27T04:50:05Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/lumai-software-inference-deployment-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/lumai-software-inference-deployment-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-09-27T04:50:05Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","usage":{"tier":"crawler","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":4207,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":793,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-09-28T00:00:00Z"}}}