Hardware ML Engineer for Custom AI Accelerators

IMC; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 200,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Comprehensive health insurance

Job summary

IMC is seeking researchers and engineers to deploy machine learning directly onto custom hardware. You will architect solutions from scratch, influence technical research, and drive real impact in demanding computing environments.

This role offers collaboration with traders, researchers, and software engineers across a high-performance platform. The Base Salary range is provided below; you may also receive a discretionary bonus and comprehensive benefits as part of total compensation.

Qualifications

• Solid understanding of hardware constraints and trade-offs shaping how ML models map to custom hardware.
• Experience with hardware fundamentals via VHDL/SystemVerilog development, HLS tools, or ML-to-hardware frameworks like hls4ml, FINN, or Vitis AI.
• Understanding of machine learning fundamentals – neural networks, inference optimization, quantization; experience with PyTorch/TensorFlow.
• Proficiency in Python, C++, or similar languages for tooling, testing, and simulation.
• Strong communication and collaboration across technical and non-technical teams.

Responsibilities

• Architect and co-design ML models with traders, quant researchers, and software engineers, treating hardware constraints as first-class design inputs.
• Shape our custom hardware roadmap by translating ML model requirements into concrete architectural decisions.
• Work hands-on with hardware engineers to implement, verify, and deploy ML inference solutions from proof-of-concept through production.
• Track and evaluate emerging research in neural architecture search, ML systems and quantization methods, and determine what translates to measurable improvements in our systems.

Skills

Hardware constraints

ML model design

FPGA/ASIC mapping

Python

C++

Team collaboration

Education

MS or PhD in EE/CS/Physics

Tools

hls4ml

FINN

Vitis AI

SystemVerilog

VHDL

Job description

IMC is seeking researchers and engineers to deploy machine learning directly onto custom hardware. You will architect solutions from scratch, influence technical research, and drive real impact in demanding computing environments.

This role offers collaboration with traders, researchers, and software engineers across a high-performance platform. The Base Salary range is provided below; you may also receive a discretionary bonus and comprehensive benefits as part of total compensation.