{"id":129088,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sambanova-systems-senior-principal-machine-learning-engineer","title":"Senior Principal Machine Learning 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":"A","score":88,"open_postings":16,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.5,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":49,"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"lead","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":220000,"max":300000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":300000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Mixture of Experts","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Speculative Decoding","optional":false},{"name":"Post-training","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-16T15:41:38Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-01","last_verified_at":"2026-10-26T11:23:20Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":71,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":71},"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 team\nThe ML team builds and optimizes the models that run on SambaNova's RDU accelerators. Their work covers model architecture, training and fine-tuning, inference optimization, evaluation, and data curation, and it lands in SambaStack and SambaCloud. They work directly with the compiler, systems, and hardware teams on co-design, so decisions about a model shape decisions about the silicon it runs on.\nAbout the role\nAs a Senior Principal Machine Learning Engineer, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and optimizing machine learning models-with a focus on cutting-edge Large Language Models (LLMs)-to run efficiently on SambaNova's specialized hardware architecture, including the RDU. This critical role bridges advanced LLM research and practical deployment, involving the development of model architectures, improving training and inference efficiency, and collaborating on hardware-software co-design with compiler, systems, and hardware teams. The engineer will also act as the ML expert, guiding the integration of LLM solutions into production systems and customer-facing products like SambaStack and SambaCloud, with work spanning the full lifecycle from training and inference to evaluation and data curation.\nResponsibilities\nSome of your responsibilities will include:\nDefine and drive technical strategy for ML model development, training pipelines, and inference systems on SambaNova's RDU and broader hardware ecosystem\nLead hardware-software co-design efforts in close collaboration with compiler, systems, and hardware teams-shaping architectural decisions that unlock performance at scale\n Identify, evaluate, and champion state-of-the-art ML techniques (e.g., speculative decoding, reinforcement learning, mixture-of-experts, long-context modeling) for adoption and adaptation on reconfigurable dataflow architectures\nServe as the senior technical voice in critical design reviews, architectural decisions, and cross-functional planning-providing guidance that influences product and engineering roadmaps\nMentor and develop principal and senior ML engineers, elevating the technical capabilities of the organization through active collaboration, design feedback, and knowledge transfer\nPartner with product and engineering leadership to translate complex ML capabilities into scalable, customer-facing solutions in SambaStack and SambaCloud\nDrive resolution of the most complex, ambiguous technical challenges -including those that span organizational boundaries or require novel approaches not yet established in the field\nRequired Qualifications\nB.S. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field\n8+ years of industry experience in machine learning engineering, with a demonstrated record of technical leadership on large-scale or novel ML systems\nDeep expertise in LLM training, fine-tuning, inference optimization, and evaluation at scale\nStrong background in ML algorithms, deep learning architectures, and modern training methodologies, with the ability to critically evaluate and advance the state of the art\nDemonstrated ability to lead and align cross-functional technical efforts, mentor senior engineers, and influence organizational direction without direct management authority\nTrack record of independently scoping and delivering high-complexity, high-ambiguity technical projects\nPreferred Qualifications\nM.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field\nExperience with hardware-software co-design with non-GPU accelerators\nPublications or open-source contributions in LLM training or inference\nExperience with speculative decoding, mixture-of-experts, or long-context modeling in production\nExperience with reinforcement learning for post-training\nFamiliarity with compiler or kernel-level optimization for ML workloads\nBase Salary Range:\nBase Pay Range\n$220,000—$300,000 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":6021,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":true},"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":"2026-08-16T15:41:38Z"}],"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":23,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.517,"p_room":0.44,"age_days":70,"expected_fill_days":49,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":300000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/sambanova-systems-senior-principal-machine-learning-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/sambanova-systems-senior-principal-machine-learning-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-26T16:24:53Z","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":21860,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-27T00:00:00Z"}},"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-principal-machine-learning-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-principal-machine-learning-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-principal-machine-learning-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-principal-machine-learning-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsambanova-systems-senior-principal-machine-learning-engineer"}]}