AI Performance Engineer - New Grad

SambaNova, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 131,000 - 197,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

Headspace membership

Gympass+ membership

One Medical membership

Employee Assistance Program

Flexible Spending Account options

Job summary

SambaNova is seeking a new graduate AI Performance Engineer to bring up open source models on the SambaNova stack and optimize them for faster inference. You will profile model execution, identify bottlenecks, and apply optimizations such as quantization, kernel fusion, and scheduling improvements across the compiler, runtime, and hardware teams for single-node and distributed systems.

You'll work with ML researchers, compilers, and hardware engineers to ship performance improvements into

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS, EE, or related field.
• Strong programming skills in Python or C++.
• Understanding of algorithms, data structures, and numerical computing.
• Experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• Experience with inference frameworks such as vLLM, TensorRT, or SGLang.
• GPU programming experience with CUDA or Triton.

Responsibilities

• Bring up new foundation models on the SambaNova platform using our software stack.
• Profile model performance across the compiler, runtime, and hardware layers.
• Identify bottlenecks and propose dataflow or scheduling optimizations for single-node and distributed systems.
• Apply techniques from recent research in quantization, scheduling, and memory optimization.
• Benchmark throughput and latency and track performance changes across releases.
• Work with ML, compiler, runtime, and hardware teams to ship performance improvements into SambaNova products.

Skills

Python

C++

Algorithms

Data structures

Numerical computing

Education

B.S. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field

M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

JAX

vLLM

TensorRT

SGLang

CUDA

Triton

Job 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.

About The Team

The AI Performance team brings up and optimizes foundation models such as DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen, and GPT OSS on SambaNova's dataflow platform. We profile and tune models across the compiler, runtime, and hardware layers to improve inference throughput and latency.

About The Role

As a new grad AI Performance Engineer, you'll bring up new open source models on the SambaNova stack and work to make them run faster. You'll profile model execution, find bottlenecks, and apply optimizations such as quantization, kernel fusion, and improved scheduling with the compiler, runtime, and hardware teams.

Responsibilities

• Bring up new foundation models on the SambaNova platform using our software stack
• Profile model performance across the compiler, runtime, and hardware layers
• Identify bottlenecks and propose dataflow or scheduling optimizations for single‑node and distributed systems
• Apply techniques from recent research in quantization, scheduling, and memory optimization
• Benchmark throughput and latency and track performance changes across releases
• Work with the machine learning, compiler, runtime, and hardware teams to ship performance improvements into SambaNova products

Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• Strong programming skills in Python or C++
• Understanding of algorithms, data structures, and numerical computing
• Experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX
• Experience with inference frameworks such as vLLM, TensorRT, or SGLang
• GPU programming experience with CUDA or Triton

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• Experience with LLM training or inference
• Familiarity with quantization, graph optimization, kernel fusion, or model partitioning
• Knowledge of memory hierarchy, caching, and scheduling for large model execution
• Internship or research experience in ML systems or performance optimizationPublications or open source contributions in ML systems

Base Salary Range:

Base Pay Range

$131,200—$196,800 USD

EEO Policy

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.

Benefits Summary For US-Based, Full-Time Employment Positions

SambaNova 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.