2027 PhD ML System Engineering Intern/Co-op

AMD; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 34,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

AMD invites PhD candidates in CS/CE/EE to join as a co-op/intern engineering student. You will own a project to accelerate LLM/VLM workloads on Ryzen AI NPU, analyze bottlenecks, and propose kernel-level optimizations with IRON. You’ll gain hands-on experience tuning GEMM and attention operators, plus memory planning and dataflow strategies.

Mentorship is provided throughout the term. You will present results to the broader team and document learnings to guide future work and production tooling.

Qualifications

• PhD candidate in CS/CE/EE relevant field.
• Knowledge of LLM and VLM architectures (attention, KV cache, prefill vs decode).
• Experience with compilers: graph lowering, operator fusion, scheduling, tiling, memory planning; MLIR a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own a project to run an LLM or VLM faster on Ryzen AI NPU; analyze time/memory use and propose changes.
• Write and tune AIE kernels with IRON to optimize GEMM, attention, normalization, and activation functions.
• Present findings to the engineering team and document learnings for reuse.

Skills

Python

C++

Profiling

Transformer knowledge

Education

PhD in Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Electrical Engineering

Tools

MLIR

IRON

Job description

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. ADVANCE THE WORLD.

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.

Job Details

• Location: San Jose, CA or Santa Clara,CA
• Onsite/Hybrid: This role requires the student to work full time (40 hours a week), in either a hybrid or onsite work structure throughout the duration of the co‑op/intern term
• Duration:
  • Spring/Summer Co‑op: January 25, 2027 - August 13, 2027
  • Summer Internship:
    • Semester Students: May 24, 2027 - August 13, 2027
    • Quarter Students: June 21, 2027 - September 10, 2027
  • Summer/Fall Co‑op:
    • Semester Students: May 24, 2027 - December 10, 2027
    • Quarter Students: June 21, 2027 - December 10, 2027

What You Will Be Doing

We are seeking highly motivated ML System Engineering co‑op to join our team. In this role –

• We will give you your own project: taking an LLM or VLM and making it run faster on the Ryzen AI NPU. You will start by studying where the time and memory actually go, then propose what to change.
• We will train you to write and tune AIE kernels with IRON, so you can optimize the operators that dominate LLM runtime — GEMM, attention, normalization, and activation functions.
• You get to present your findings to the wider engineering organization at the end of your term, and write up what you learned so the team can build on it.

What you will learn: how a transformer maps onto a tiled dataflow accelerator, how to reason about compute‑bound versus memory‑bound behavior on real hardware, and how production AI compilers and runtimes are structured. You will be paired with a mentor who reviews your work weekly.

Who We Are Looking For

• You are completing a PhD, in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.
• You know LLM and VLM architectures well — attention, KV cache, prefill versus decode, and vision encoder fusion.
• You have worked with compilers: graph lowering, operator fusion, scheduling, tiling, and memory planning. MLIR experience is a plus.
• You are strong in Python and C++, and comfortable profiling code to tell compute‑bound from memory‑bound behavior.
• Familiarity with the AMD AI Engine (AIE) architecture, or experience writing kernels or dataflow designs with IRON, is a plus.

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Benefits offered are described: AMD benefits at a glance.

AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee‑based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers 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.