AI Inference Tools Engineer

Socket.dev; Los Altos (CA); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 242,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Stock options

Premium health insurance

5% 401k matching

Job summary

Modular is seeking an engineer for the MAX Tools team to build developer tooling for its AI inference stack, enabling engineers to create, debug, and optimize models and kernels. You will work on profiling, tracing, debuggers, and dashboards, as well as agent-native tooling and integration across the stack.

The role emphasizes shipping developer tools, performance measurement, and close collaboration with kernel, model, and serving teams, with hybrid work options and relocation support for some

Qualifications

• Experience designing, building, and shipping developer tools or observability systems used by engineers.
• Fluency in systems/performance languages (C++, Rust, Go) and user-facing language (Python).
• Experience measuring software performance via profiling or benchmarking and analyzing results.

Responsibilities

• Enhance the MAX developer experience by creating tooling for traditional and agentic workflows.
• Design, build, and maintain profiling, tracing, debuggers, and dashboards for MAX deployments.
• Create agent-native tooling and write agents to manage models and triage issues.
• Integrate MAX tools with Mojo and driver APIs across orchestration layers.
• Participate in design discussions and code reviews to uphold high engineering standards.
• Collaborate with kernel, model, and serving engineers to turn pain points into better tools.

Skills

C++

Rust

Go

Python

Mojo familiarity

Tools

Nsight Systems

Perfetto

CUDA

PyTorch

Job description

About the role:

At Modular we are building a next generation AI platform to power modern applications and facilitate access to cutting-edge hardware. The MAX framework is our developer-facing layer: it defines the APIs developers use to express models, integrate custom kernels, orchestrate execution, iterate on quality and ship systems into production.

As an engineer on the MAX Tools team you will build the developer tooling for Modular's AI inference stack to make the engineers who build and deploy AI models more productive. You will be working on tools to help people create, debug, and optimize models and kernels. Modular’s vertically integrated ML serving stack allows you to solve a uniquely diverse set of problems, and gives you especially broad scope for creating solutions. A growing part of our work is agent-native tooling: tools designed so that AI agents can profile, triage, and debug issues under engineer guidance.

LOCATION: Candidates based in the US, Canada, or UK are welcome to apply. To support growth and collaboration, those in earlier career stages work in a hybrid capacity at our Los Altos, CA or Edinburgh, UK office (minimum 3 days per week on-site) with relocation assistance provided for out-of-state candidates based in the US. Senior members have both in office or remote flexibility. Onboarding for new hires is conducted in person at an appropriate office.

What you will do:

• Enhance the MAX developer experience by creating tools that can be part of traditional and agentic workflows, by surfacing data through the entire AI stack, and by supporting a widening list of heterogeneous hardware platforms.
• Design, build, and maintain key technologies that support the MAX framework, such as profiling and tracing tools, debuggers and associated tools to check correctness, and metrics and dashboards to monitor the performance and health of MAX deployments.
• Create agent-native tooling: tools that can be used by humans and agents alike, and the agentic workflows that go around them. Write agents to bring up models, to triage issues with running systems, and to profile and optimize based on real workloads.
• Connect MAX tools through the entire stack: by strengthening the tooling interfaces between MAX, Mojo, and the driver APIs they run on; and by integrating tool use cleanly with the orchestration layers above.
• Participate in design discussions and code reviews to uphold high engineering standards.
• Work directly with the kernel, model, and serving engineers who use your tools every day, and turn their recurring pain points into better tools.

What you bring to the table:

• Passion for creating exceptional developer experiences and an understanding of what makes great tools feel effortless.
• Experience designing, building, and shipping developer tools, developer infrastructure, or observability systems that other engineers rely on.
• Fluency in one or more systems/performance languages (C++, Rust, Go) and one or more user-facing languages (Python; familiarity with Mojo is a plus).
• Experience measuring software performance via profiling, tracing, or benchmarking, and the systems knowledge to analyze those results.
• Clear written communication and the ability to work independently in a distributed team.
• A user-focused mindset: you seek out the people who use your tools, learn their workflows, and prioritize what makes them more productive.

Helpful, but not required:

• Experience with GPU performance tooling (Nsight Systems/Compute, rocprof, Perfetto, or similar) or GPU programming (CUDA, ROCm).
• Knowledge of basic AI implementation and modeling techniques and familiarity with AI frameworks like PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow.
• Experience building tooling for AI agents (e.g. agent skills, MCP).

What Modular brings to the table:

• Amazing Team.We are a progressive and agile team with some of the industry’s best engineering and product leaders.
• World-class Benefits.In order to attract the best, we need to offer the best. Premier insurance plans, up to 5% 401k matching, flexible paid time off, and more are available to you! Please note that specific benefit packages may vary based on your location.
• Competitive Compensation.We offer very strong compensation packages, including stock options. We want people to be focused on their best work and believe in tailoring compensation plans to meet the needs of our workforce.
• Team Building Events. We organize regular team onsites and local meetups in Los Altos, CA as well as different cities. Traveling 2-4 times a year is expected for all roles.

Working at Modular will enable you to grow quickly as you work alongside incredibly motivated and talented people who have high standards, possess a growth mindset, and a purpose to truly change the world.

The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in the US, regardless of the state, is $167,000.00 - $242,000.00 USD.

The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in the UK, is £97,000 - £140,000 GBP.

The salary for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of permissible, non-discriminatory job-related factors, which include but are not limited to education, training, work experience, business needs, or market demands. This range may be modified in the future. The total compensation for a candidate will also include annual target bonus, equity, and benefits, with equity making up a significant portion of your total compensation.

For candidates who fall outside of the listed requirements, we nevertheless encourage you to apply as we may have openings that are lower/higher level than the ones advertised.