Senior LLM Inference Engineer

Bitwise; Laurel (MD); On-site; USD 282,000 - 332,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Top salaries

PTO flexibility 3-5 weeks

11 federal holidays

2 snow days

401(k) match up to 24%

Employer-paid health/dental/vision

Education assistance $5,250

Spot bonuses

Job summary

Bitwise is hiring a Senior Software Engineer – Inference in Laurel, MD to lead evaluation, configuration, and deployment of AI inference models. You will mentor engineers and help grow best practices while building in-house services for reliable high-quality inference.

You will collaborate across teams to establish robust AI infrastructure, ensuring access to top large language models within our inference stack and contributing to the broader AI-enabled ecosystem.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience or a B.S. plus 8+ years
• Proficiency with Python and/or other modern programming languages
• Experience with Argo CD and/or other CI/CD frameworks
• Experience with Kubernetes and Helm
• Experience with AWS or other cloud providers
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to mentor engineers
• Excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills
• Balance hands-on engineering with leadership and coordination responsibilities
• Experience with vLLM, LiteLLM, or similar inference-serving frameworks
• Experience with other LLM hosting frameworks and practices
• Experience with SRE best practices and observability tooling

Responsibilities

• Lead evaluation, configuration, and deployment of inference models
• Mentor engineers and improve development practices
• Develop in-house services to guarantee high-quality inference
• Collaborate across teams to build scalable AI infrastructure
• Balance surge efforts with ongoing delivery and mentorship

Skills

Python

Communication

Leadership

Mentoring

Education

B.S. in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Argo CD

CI/CD tooling

AWS

Job description

An active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph is required for this role

Bitwise is a leading provider of mission-focused intelligence solutions that advance national security for the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. We're a small and growing company, so you can expect to hop in on the ground floor with us and be a consequential member of the team. You'll be more than a contract performer for us — you'll also be asked for ideas to improve our company and improve your career, and you'll contribute to our team culture. We value growth and community above almost all else, so we gather regularly for game nights, happy hours, tech talks, and plenty more. We think you'll like it here!

Remember, Bitwise is not a cult.

What We Look For

Bitwise hires talented engineers who are driven by purpose and who value a culture of technical excellence, growth, and overall wellness. We deliver new and innovative intelligence solutions to our customers at the very forefront of our country's national security missions. And we do it every single day. Our work matters, and so will you.

We ask that every new hire be able to:

• Contribute meaningful thought leadership — if not right away, over time
• Interact with our customers and earn their confidence in your abilities
• Be detailed, even if that means taking a little more time to get it right
• Contribute their ideas and ideals to improve all aspects of our company
• Allow us to invest in their education so we both grow together

We're building the next generation of AI infrastructure to power innovation across our customer organization, and we need a senior software engineer to help lead the charge. In this role, you'll be instrumental in building and maintaining the foundation for customer AI capabilities while supporting a broader ecosystem of AI-enabled applications. Your focus will be ensuring access to the highest quality large language models across our inference software stack.

As a Senior Software Engineer – Inference, you'll take on significant technical and leadership responsibilities. You'll lead the evaluation, configuration, and deployment of inference models for our users, translating high-level stakeholder goals into engineering outcomes. You'll mentor engineers on our team, helping to grow development best practices and standards that elevate everyone's work. You'll develop in-house services and techniques to guarantee continual high-quality inference service for our customer, and you'll engage across teams to establish solid infrastructure for our services and integrate LLM-powered tools for user needs.

We move fast in this space — requirements shift as mission needs evolve and new technologies emerge. You'll be expected to keep sharpening your skills and learning to turn loosely defined problems into working solutions. You'll also collaborate with teammates on surge efforts to support short-term, high-priority inference needs, balancing hands-on engineering with leadership and coordination responsibilities.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in software engineering, or a B.S. in a technical discipline plus 8+ years of experience
• Proficiency with Python and/or other modern programming languages
• Experience with Argo CD and/or other CI/CD frameworks
• Experience with Kubernetes and Helm
• Experience with AWS or other cloud service providers
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to mentor other engineers
• Excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to balance hands-on engineering with leadership and coordination responsibilities
• Experience with vLLM, LiteLLM, or similar inference-serving frameworks
• Experience with other LLM hosting frameworks and practices
• Experience supporting production software using Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) best practices
• Experience with Elastic, Grafana/Prometheus, or other observability frameworks and practices
• Experience with Docker and containerization
• Experience in traffic shaping and quality-of-service engineering
• Knowledge of and interest in hosting AI capabilities

Benefits at Bitwise

• Top salaries because we're top performers
• Pick your PTO — Everyone values time and money differently, so we give you the flexibility to choose between 3 and 5 weeks of PTO with a corresponding adjustment to your pay. Your choice, your balance.
• All 11 federal holidays, paid!
• Up to 2 snow days, paid!
• We'll quadruple (4x!) the first 6% you contribute to your 401(k), giving you up to a 24% company match. Contributing less than 6%? Unclaimed matches come right back to you as extra income, giving you a guaranteed 24% that goes to your retirement, to your paycheck, or both. C'mon now!
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances. That's a lot. Already covered on health insurance? No problem — we'll trade you this benefit for a boost to your salary instead.
• $5,250 annual education assistance for training, certifications, tuition, and even student loan repayments.
• Spot bonuses for obtained certifications, customer recognition, and just about anything else that makes us go "Hot damn!". We hope to say that many times about you.

Salary Range

$282,000 – $332,000

This range includes our flex income and depends upon your annual work hours.

Salary is determined on an individual basis following the interview process and considering various factors such as years of experience, skills, education, and certifications.

What to Expect After Applying

You'll get an email from us right away to acknowledge your application. After that, we'll:

• Send over additional company materials for you to review
• Schedule a video call to talk about you, our company, and your place in it
• Craft a delightful offer package for you and record a video walkthrough
• Work closely with you through onboarding. We'll keep it joyful and easy.

Bitwise is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.

Compensation for this position, including all compensation options, will be determined on an individual basis following the interview process.

If you require accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please reach out to us.