AI Performance Engineer (Life Sciences)

AMD; Helsinki; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

AMD is seeking an AI Performance Engineer, Life Sciences to contribute to the development and optimization of foundation models and agentic AI systems for drug discovery. You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to deliver production‑grade AI solutions that advance therapeutic research.

The role emphasizes deep learning performance optimization, profiling, and cross‑domain collaboration across teams in Finland and internationally, with opportunities to shape cutting‑edge AI workflows

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in a related field.
• Experience delivering ML, simulation, or HPC solutions.
• Experience building ML and simulation apps and pipelines.
• Strong understanding of deep learning architectures (transformers, diffusion, language models).
• Proficiency in Python and production-level C++.
• Experience with PyTorch; familiarity with JAX.
• Software engineering skills for prototyping, debugging, profiling, and production code.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor).
• Experience with profiling tools (rocprof, PyTorch Profiler, Nsight).
• Experience with framework optimization and backends (Inductor, TensorRT).
• Experience profiling GPU workloads with ROCm/CUDA.
• GPU programming with HIP, CUDA, or OpenCL.
• HPC environment experience.
• Strong English communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Optimize ML models via profiling and bottleneck analysis across GPU architectures.
• Analyze ML models for compute/memory needs and optimize for training/inference.
• Perform kernel/framework/hardware-level optimizations.
• Work with deep learning and transformer architectures and physics-based simulations.
• Profile workloads on hardware and develop strategies to improve efficiency and scalability.

Skills

Python

C++ production

Deep learning architectures

Performance optimization

Profiling and debugging

Communication skills

Education

Master's degree, PhD, or equivalent in CS/Engineering/Computational Science/Applied Mathematics

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

HIP/CUDA/OpenCL

TensorRT

Inductor

Triton

Job description

At AMD, we believe technology has the power to solve the world’s most important challenges. From advancing healthcare and scientific discovery to powering AI and the technologies people rely on every day, innovation at AMD is shaping the future.

Whether you’re designing next-gen processors, enabling AI breakthroughs, or bringing leading edge products to market, every role at AMD contributes to something bigger — technology that moves the world forward. Join us and, together, we’ll advance your career.

THE ROLE

We are looking for an AI Performance Engineer, Life Sciences to contribute to the development and optimization of foundation models and agentic AI systems for drug discovery. You will work within a multidisciplinary team of machine learning researchers, computational chemists, and software engineers to deliver AI systems with real-world therapeutic impact. This role offers the opportunity to apply expertise in deep learning performance optimization, collaborate across technical domains, and deliver production‑grade software solutions.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Optimize machine learning models through profiling, bottleneck analysis, and efficient mapping of workloads to GPU architectures.
• Analyze emerging machine learning models, understand their compute and memory requirements, and optimize them for training and inference across a range of hardware platforms.
• Perform optimization at the kernel, framework, and hardware levels.
• Work hands‑on with deep learning and transformer architectures, as well as physics‑based simulation models.
• Profile and analyze workloads on current hardware, identify performance bottlenecks, and develop strategies to improve efficiency and scalability.

COLLABORATION

• Contribute to the Life Sciences workstream within AMD Silo AI’s R&D and Models unit as part of an interdisciplinary team.
• Partner with life sciences AI developers and domain experts to understand requirements and translate them into effective technical solutions.
• Share knowledge, experience, and best practices with the wider team through training, mentoring, and collaboration.
• Collaborate with teams located in Finland and internationally across the organization.
• Engage with clients to explain performance bottlenecks, optimization opportunities, and proposed solutions clearly and effectively.

MAIN GOALS FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

• Benchmark, analyze, and optimize the performance of key machine learning applications on single and multi‑GPU systems at the kernel, framework, and hardware levels.
• Design, implement, and test GPU kernels and algorithms for tensor operations, including matrix multiplication and convolutions used in high‑performance machine learning libraries and frameworks.
• Identify architectural opportunities to improve the performance of transformer‑based and deep learning architectures.
• Communicate learnings, outcomes, and impact to internal and external stakeholders in a clear, structured, and effective way.
• Deliver high‑quality, maintainable code and documentation aligned with open‑source software development best practices.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• A Master’s degree, PhD, or equivalent practical experience in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computational Science, Applied Mathematics, Cheminformatics, Bioinformatics, or a related field.
• Relevant experience developing and delivering machine learning, simulation, or high‑performance computing solutions.
• Experience building machine learning and simulation applications and pipelines.
• A strong understanding of deep learning architectures, including transformers, diffusion models, and language models.
• Proficiency in Python and familiarity with C++ in production environments.
• Experience with PyTorch; familiarity with JAX would be beneficial.
• Software engineering skills across rapid prototyping, debugging, profiling, optimization, and the delivery of maintainable production code.
• Familiarity with AI‑assisted development tools, such as Claude Code or Cursor.
• Experience with performance profiling tools such as rocprof, PyTorch Profiler, or Nsight.
• Experience with framework‑level optimization, including compilation techniques and backends such as Inductor or TensorRT.
• Experience profiling and optimizing GPU workloads using ROCm and/or CUDA.
• GPU software development experience using technologies such as HIP, CUDA, or OpenCL.
• Experience developing GPU kernels with HIP, CUDA, or Triton.
• Experience working in high‑performance computing environments.
• Effective written and verbal communication and presentation skills in English.

ADDITIONAL VALUED EXPERIENCE

• Experience building and operating large‑scale machine learning systems, including training infrastructure and distributed computing environments.
• Understanding of GPU architectures and low‑level optimization techniques, including memory hierarchy, instruction scheduling, and performance trade‑offs.
• Experience developing, maintaining, and supporting open‑source software projects, including releases, documentation, and continuous integration pipelines.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Familiarity with cluster orchestration technologies such as Slurm, Kubernetes, or Yarn.
• Hands‑on experience with life sciences foundation models, including OpenFold, AlphaFold, Boltz, ESM, Geneformer, or scGPT families.
• Hands‑on experience with life sciences simulation workloads such as GROMACS or NAMD.
• A publication record at conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, MLSB, ISMB, or RECOMB.
• Experience building production‑grade agentic AI systems and workflows.

LOCATIONS

Open to candidates based in Finland and Sweden.

We welcome applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. If you are excited about this opportunity but do not meet every qualification listed, we still encourage you to apply. Your unique skills and perspective could be a valuable addition to our team.

AMD is an equal‑opportunity, inclusive employer and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third‑party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position. AMD’s “Responsible AI Policy” is available here.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.