Member of Technical Staff, Kernel Engineering

Inferact; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 200,000 - 400,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits including vision, and

401(k) company match

Job summary

Inferact is seeking a Senior Performance Engineer to squeeze every FLOP out of modern accelerators. You will write CUDA kernels and low-level optimizations to make vLLM the fastest inference engine.

Your code runs on hundreds of accelerator types, and you’ll work with hardware teams to extract maximum performance from every generation of hardware. You will collaborate across NVIDIA, AMD, TPU, and Intel ecosystems, profiling and tuning to achieve best-in-class speedups while supporting ongoing ML

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in computer science, engineering, or similar.
• Deep experience writing CUDA kernels or equivalent (CuTeDSL, Triton, TileLang, Pallas).
• Strong understanding of GPU architecture: memory hierarchy, warp scheduling, tiling, tensor cores.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python with demonstrated ability to write high-performance code.
• Experience with profiling tools (Nsight, rocprof) and performance optimization methodologies.
• Obsession with benchmarks and squeezing every percentage point of speedup.

Responsibilities

• Write high-performance CUDA kernels and low-level optimizations.
• Develop portable kernels across diverse accelerator types (NVIDIA, AMD, TPU, Intel).
• Collaborate with hardware teams to ensure peak performance on new chips.
• Profile, benchmark, and iterate to maximize speedups across generations.

Skills

CUDA kernel development

C++ and Python

GPU architecture and optimization

Profiling and performance tuning

Benchmarking focus

Remote collaboration with hardware/ops

ML kernel optimization

Quantization techniques

Multiple accelerators knowledge

Compiler technologies experience

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in CS/Engineering

Job description

Inferact's mission is to grow vLLM as the world's AI inference engine and accelerate AI progress by making inference cheaper and faster. Founded by the creators and core maintainers of vLLM, we sit at the intersection of models and hardware—a position that took years to build.

About the Role

We're looking for a performance engineer to squeeze every FLOP out of modern accelerators. You'll write the kernels and low-level optimizations that make vLLM the fastest inference engine in the world. Your code will run on hundreds of accelerator types, from NVIDIA GPUs to emerging silicon. When hardware vendors develop new chips, they integrate with vLLM. You'll work directly with these teams to ensure we're extracting maximum performance from every generation of hardware.

Skills and Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in computer science, engineering, or similar.

• Deep experience writing CUDA kernels or equivalent (CuTeDSL, Triton, TileLang, Pallas).

• Strong understanding of GPU architecture: memory hierarchy, warp scheduling, tiling, tensor cores.

• Proficiency in C++ and Python with demonstrated ability to write high-performance code.

• Experience with profiling tools (Nsight, rocprof) and performance optimization methodologies.

• Obsession with benchmarks and squeezing every percentage point of speedup.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with ML-specific kernel optimization (FlashAttention, fused kernels).

• Knowledge of quantization techniques (INT8, FP8, mixed-precision).

• Familiarity with multiple accelerator platforms (NVIDIA, AMD, TPU, Intel).

• Experience with compiler technologies (LLVM, MLIR, XLA).

Bonus points if you have:

• Kernel-related contributions to vLLM or other inference engine projects.

• Contributions to open-source GPU, ML systems, or compiler optimization projects

• Written deep technical blogs on GPU optimization.

Logistics

• Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California. Will consider remote in the US for exceptional candidates.

• Compensation: Depending on background, skills, and experience, the expected annual salary range for this position is $200,000 - $400,000 USD + equity.

• Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas on a case-by-case basis.

• Benefits: Inferact offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits as well as 401(k) company match.