Lead Software Engineer - Kernels

MatX; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health Insurance

PTO 4 wks

Holidays

Remote work

Job summary

MatX is building the compute platform for AGI and seeks a hands-on TLM to lead the Kernel team in Mountain View. You will mentor engineers, set technical direction, and contribute code implementing high‑performance compute kernels for specialized AI hardware.

You will partner with ML and Hardware teams to maximize output, improve diagnostics, and ensure tight integration of software with hardware. The role combines leadership with hands‑on kernel development across a cutting‑edge stack.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of engineering team management experience.
• 7+ years of working within engineering teams.
• Bachelor of Computer Science or equivalent degree.
• Experience optimizing software for specialized hardware, employing parallelism and SIMD/assembly optimization or GPU/CUDA programming.
• Proficient in assembly, C++, C, Zig, or Rust.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, manage escalations, and align stakeholders around infra decisions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of translating technical trade-offs.

Responsibilities

• Manage, mentor, and build a kernel engineering team.
• Design and optimize kernels interfacing with hardware.
• Collaborate with ML and Hardware teams to co-design AI architectures.
• Provide guidance on hardware architecture from a programmer's perspective.

Skills

Team management

Kernel development

C/C++

Rust

Zig

Parallelism/SIMD

Communication

Education

Bachelor of Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

CUDA

GPU programming

Job description

MatX is on a mission to be the compute platform for AGI. We are developing vertically integrated full‑stack solutions from silicon to systems including hardware and software to train and run the largest ML workloads for AGI.

We are seeking a hands‑on engineering TLM to lead the Kernel team. You will manage, mentor and grow a team of kernel engineers while setting technical direction and executing. At the same time, you will be an active coding contributor, designing and implementing high‑performance compute kernels for specialized AI hardware.

You will partner with the ML team to maximize output and improve diagnostic tools, and collaborate with hardware to co‑design next‑generation AI architectures.

What You'll Do Here

• Manage, mentor, and build a team of highly specialized kernel engineers and software developers
• Design and optimize kernels that interface directly with our hardware
• Work in partnership with our ML Research and Hardware Engineering teams
• Provide expertise and guidance on hardware architecture from a programmer's perspective, ensuring seamless integration with the software stack

Who You Are

• 2+ years of engineering team management experience
• 7+ years of working within engineering teams
• Bachelor of Computer Science or equivalent degree
• Experience optimizing software for specialized hardware, employing techniques such as parallelism, SIMD programming, C, assembly‑level optimization, or GPU/CUDA programming
• Proficient in at least one of: assembly, C++, C, Zig, or Rust
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, manage escalations, and align stakeholders around infrastructure decisions
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of translating complex technical trade‑offs with founders and stakeholders

Bonus Points If You Have

• Experience implementing kernels for ML models such as Transformers
• Experience using and implementing distributed parallelism techniques such as AllReduce, AllToAll, data parallelism, tensor parallelism
• Familiarity with how compilers work

Compensation

The US base salary for this full‑time position is determined based on a variety of factors including role, experience, location, job‑related skills, and relevant education and training. Career length is only a guideline for compensation.

• Early Career – $120,000 – $275,000 + equity

What We Offer

• Stake in our success: A flexible cash equity compensation mix that fits your needs
• Health & Wellness: Company‑subsidized Health, Dental, Vision, and Life insurance; pre‑tax Health Savings Accounts with generous company contribution
• Time to Recharge: 4 weeks paid time off (accrued), 12 company holidays, and 3 weeks remote/flexible work per year
• Support to Parents: Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave, regardless of your path to parenthood
• Learning & Development: $1,500 yearly towards professional development (conferences, courses, etc.)
• Team Connection: Team lunches, quarterly off‑sites, and regular town halls
• Financial Well‑being: 401K and/or Roth IRA, with 5% company contribution
• Flexible Spending Accounts: Pre‑tax spend accounts for medical, dental/vision, dependent care, parking, and transit expenses
• Commute on Us: For those commuting up to 1 hour, rideshare cost is reimbursed
• MatX E[x]tras: $50 per month to use on the perks you care about most
• Remote Perks: Work remotely Monday & Friday, supported by home‑tech setup and remote Wi‑Fi expense reimbursement

Equal Employment Opportunity

MatX is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital/domestic partner status, military and veteran status, genetic information or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances.

All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States and work from our offices in Mountain View Tuesdays-Thursday.

This position requires access to information subject to U.S. export controls. Employment is contingent upon compliance with U.S. export control laws.

MatX does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or third‑party agencies. No fee will be paid to third parties who submit unsolicited candidates directly to our hiring managers or People team; any resumes submitted are deemed to be the property of MatX.