{"id":129084,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer","title":"Senior AI Performance Engineer","company":{"id":100,"name":"SambaNova Systems","domain":"sambanova.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/sambanova","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":13,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":32,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","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":["San Jose, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":180000,"max":255000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":255000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"DeepSeek","optional":false},{"name":"JAX","optional":false},{"name":"Llama","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch C++","optional":false},{"name":"Quantization","optional":false},{"name":"Qwen","optional":false},{"name":"TensorFlow","optional":false},{"name":"TensorFlow C++","optional":false},{"name":"CUDA","optional":true},{"name":"CUDA Toolkit","optional":true},{"name":"cuDNN","optional":true},{"name":"DeepSpeed","optional":true},{"name":"LLM","optional":true},{"name":"Megatron-LM","optional":true},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":true},{"name":"OpenCL","optional":true},{"name":"TensorRT","optional":true},{"name":"Triton","optional":true},{"name":"vLLM","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2025-11-21T09:51:31Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-01","last_verified_at":"2026-10-18T06:38:39Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":330,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":330},"description":"SambaNova is a leader in next-generation AI infrastructure, delivering a full-stack inference platform for customers worldwide. At the core of SambaNova's technology is the RDU (Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit) - a chip built on a dataflow architecture rather than the traditional GPU model. Its decode performance is especially strong for agentic workloads like multi-turn agents, code generation, and long-running applications. RDUs are packaged into SambaRack, rack-scale hardware that lets customers deploy state-of-the-art models with better performance, greater energy efficiency, and faster time to value.\nAbout the role\nWe are seeking a talented and driven ML performance engineer to optimize and scale state-of-the-art foundation models on SambaNova's reconfigurable dataflow platform. You'll work hands-on with some of the most advanced models in the world - such as DeepSeek R1, GPT OSS, and other frontier architectures - to push the limits of throughput, latency, and efficiency. In this role, you'll bridge the gap between deep learning and systems performance, collaborating across compiler, runtime, and hardware layers to deliver world-record performance for large-scale AI inference.\nResponsibilities\nBring up and optimize cutting-edge foundation models (e.g., DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen, and others) on the SambaNova platform through the SambaNova software stack.\nProfile and enhance model performance across compiler, runtime, and hardware layers to achieve SOTA throughput and latency.\nCollaborate with machine learning, compiler, runtime, and hardware teams to deliver co-designed, high-performance AI applications.\nIntegrate the latest advances in model architecture, quantization, scheduling, and memory optimization from both academia and industry.\nDevelop robust, scalable, and efficient end-to-end inference solutions aligned with customer needs.\nIdentify performance bottlenecks and propose dataflow or scheduling optimizations for both single-node and distributed systems.\nRequired Qualifications\nBachelor's or higher degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field (e.g., applied mathematics, physics, or statistics).\n3+ years of experience in one or more of the following areas:\nDeep learning model development and performance optimization\nCompiler, runtime, or kernel-level optimization\nSoftware-hardware co-design or systems performance tuning\nProficiency in Python or C++, with strong foundations in algorithms, data structures, and numerical computing.\nExperience with at least one major ML framework - PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.\nDemonstrated ability to analyze and optimize performance in real-world ML pipelines.\nPreferred Qualifications\nHands-on experience with LLM or multimodal model training and inference.\nBackground in large-scale distributed training, continuous batching, and high-throughput inference systems.\nFamiliarity with quantization, graph optimization, kernel fusion, and model partitioning.\nExperience with frameworks such as DeepSpeed, Megatron, vLLM, or TensorRT.\nStrong GPU programming skills (CUDA, Triton, or OpenCL); experience with cuDNN, cuBLAS, or similar libraries is a plus.\nKnowledge of memory hierarchy optimization, caching, and scheduling for large-scale model execution.\nPublication record or open-source contributions in ML systems or performance optimization is a plus.\nBase Salary Range:\nBase Pay Range\n$180,000—$255,000 USD\nSubmission Guidelines\n Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at SambaNova Systems, you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. \nEEO Policy\n SambaNova Systems is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.\nBenefits Summary for US-Based, Full-Time Employment Positions\nSambaNova offers a competitive total rewards package, including the base salary, plus equity and benefits. We cover 95% premium coverage for employee medical insurance, and 77% premium coverage for dependents and offer a Health Savings Account (HSA) with employer contribution. We also offer Dental, Vision, Short/Long term Disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, and AD&D insurance plans in addition to Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options like Health Care, Limited Purpose, and Dependent Care. Our library of well-being benefits available to you and your dependents includes a full subscription to Headspace, Gympass+ membership with access to physical gyms, One Medical membership, counseling services with an Employee Assistance Program, and much more.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4944,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["LLM & Generative AI","Servers & Data Center Hardware","AI Compute & Inference","AI Chips & Accelerators"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2025-11-21T09:51:31Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 23 · green card filings: 30","filings_12m":23,"filings_prev_12m":34,"green_card_filings_12m":30,"median_offered_wage_usd":182500,"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)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":9}],"liveness":{"score":4,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.151,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":329,"expected_fill_days":32,"reasons":["conf:0","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":255000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/sambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/sambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-18T06:53:40Z","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":10258,"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":100},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=100"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fsambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer"},{"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%2Fsambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer"},{"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%2Fsambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer"},{"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/sambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsambanova-systems-senior-ai-performance-engineer"}]}