{"id":175914,"url":"https://alion.io/job/positron-ai-software-engineer-senior","title":"Software Engineer, Senior","company":{"id":63106,"name":"Positron AI","domain":"positron.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/positron-ai","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Rippling","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":250000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":250000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":7,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"HPC","optional":false},{"name":"KV Cache","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Quantization","optional":false},{"name":"Valgrind","optional":false},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"GCC","optional":true},{"name":"LLVM","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2025-02-11T20:44:22Z","employer_posted_date":"2025-02-11","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T23:42:46Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":613,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":612},"description":"About Positron AI\nPositron AI specializes in developing custom hardware systems to accelerate AI inference. These inference systems offer significant performance and efficiency gains over traditional GPU-based systems, delivering advantages in both performance per dollar and performance per watt. Positron exists to create the world's best AI inference systems.\nRole Overview\nSenior Software Engineer - Machine Learning Systems & High-Performance LLM Inference\nWe are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to contribute to the development of high-performance software that powers execution of open-source large language models (LLMs) on our custom appliance. This appliance leverages a combination of FPGAs and x86 CPUs to accelerate transformer-based models. The software stack is written primarily in modern C++ (C++17/20) and heavily relies on templates, SIMD optimizations, and efficient parallel computing techniques.\nKey Responsibilities\nDesign and implement high-performance inference software for LLMs on custom hardware.\nDevelop and optimize C++-based libraries that efficiently utilize SIMD instructions, threading, and memory hierarchy.\nWork closely with FPGA and systems engineers to ensure efficient data movement and computational offloading between x86 CPUs and FPGAs.\nOptimize model execution via low-level optimizations, including vectorization, cache efficiency, and hardware-aware scheduling.\nContribute to performance profiling tools and methodologies to analyze execution bottlenecks at the instruction and data flow levels.\nApply NUMA-aware memory management techniques to optimize memory access patterns for large-scale inference workloads.\nImplement ML system-level optimizations such as token streaming, KV cache optimizations, and efficient batching for transformer execution.\nCollaborate with ML researchers and software engineers to integrate model quantization techniques, sparsity optimizations, and mixed-precision execution.\nEnsure all code contributions include unit, performance, acceptance, and regression tests as part of a continuous integration-based development process.\nRequired Qualifications\n7+ years of professional experience in C++ software development, with a focus on performance-critical applications.\nStrong understanding of C++ templates and modern memory management.\nHands-on experience with SIMD programming (AVX-512, SSE, or equivalent) and intrinsics-based vectorization.\nExperience in high-performance computing (HPC), numerical computing, or ML inference optimization.\nExperience with ML model execution optimizations, including efficient tensor computations and memory access patterns.\nKnowledge of multi-threading, NUMA architectures, and low-level CPU optimization.\nProficiency with systems-level software development, profiling tools (perfetto, VTune, Valgrind), and benchmarking.\nExperience working with hardware accelerators (FPGAs, GPUs, or custom ASICs) and designing efficient software-hardware interfaces.\nPreferred Qualifications\nFamiliarity with LLVM/Clang or GCC compiler optimizations.\nExperience in LLM quantization, sparsity optimizations, and mixed-precision computation.\nKnowledge of distributed inference techniques and networking optimizations.\nUnderstanding of graph partitioning and execution scheduling for large-scale ML models.\nLeveling & Scope\nWhile this role is currently posted at a specific level, we are a growth-oriented organization and are open to hiring at a more senior level for the right candidate. Please note that this job description serves as a focused but generalized overview of the role; specific responsibilities and impact expectations will be tailored to the experience and seniority of the final hire.\nWhy Join Us?\nWork on a cutting-edge ML inference platform that redefines performance and efficiency for LLMs.\nTackle challenging low-level performance engineering problems in AI and HPC.\nCollaborate with a team of hardware, software, and ML experts building an industry-first product.\nOpportunity to contribute to and shape the future of open-source AI inference software.\nCompensation and Benefits\nThe base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $250,000.\nPlease note that the figures provided represent the base salary range only and do not include other elements of our total compensation package, equity, or comprehensive benefits.\nAt Positron AI, we value the unique expertise each candidate brings. While the range above reflects our typical expectation for the position, we reserve the flexibility to exceed this range for candidates whose specialized skills, significant experience, or unique qualifications fall outside the standard scope of the role. Final offers are determined based on a variety of factors, including internal equity, and individual impact.\nBenefits & Perks\nWe want you to do your best work and feel confident that you and your family are taken care of. That means comprehensive coverage, real time to rest, and support for your future.\nHealth and wellness\nFully company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents\nCompany-paid life and disability coverage, with voluntary options to add more\nSupplemental hospital, critical illness, and accident coverage available\nTime off and flexibility\nUnlimited paid time off - we encourage everyone to truly unplug and recharge\n13 paid company holidays\nRemote-first culture with a company-provided computer and home office setup\nCompensation and future\nCompetitive salary and equity\n401(k) with company matching, eligible from day one\nVisa Support\nThis position is open to candidates currently authorized to work in the U.S. We cannot provide new visa sponsorship for this role but are open to facilitating H-1B visa transfers for eligible candidates.\nEqual Opportunity Employer. If you’re excited about the role but don’t meet every bullet, we’d still love to hear from you.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5877,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":7,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Home office","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Servers & Data Center Hardware","AI Compute & Inference","AI Chips & Accelerators"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-30T14:00:09Z"},{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-26T04:04:00Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 5","filings_12m":5,"filings_prev_12m":1,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":300500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":2}],"liveness":{"score":9,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.334,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":612,"expected_fill_days":63,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":250000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/positron-ai-software-engineer-senior","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/positron-ai-software-engineer-senior.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-18T01:24:04Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":2330,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-19T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":63106},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=63106"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fpositron-ai-software-engineer-senior"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fpositron-ai-software-engineer-senior"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fpositron-ai-software-engineer-senior"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/positron-ai-software-engineer-senior\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fpositron-ai-software-engineer-senior"}]}