Software Engineer, Inference Infrastructure

Modular; United States; On-site; USD 167,000 - 273,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Premier insurance plans

Flexible paid time off

Team building events

Job summary

A leading AI infrastructure company is seeking a Software Engineer for its Inference Infrastructure team. This role involves building LLM-focused inference services and creating distributed systems for high performance AI solutions. The ideal candidate will possess over 5 years of backend engineering experience and a strong background in ML inference infrastructure. Candidates can work hybrid from Los Altos, CA or remotely, making a significant impact in a collaborative team. Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits are offered.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience working in backend engineering.
• Experience working on high-scale ML inference infrastructure.
• Experience with Kubernetes and managing services.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship modular’s LLM focused inference services.
• Create distributed systems for high performance inference.
• Collaborate with kernels and genAI teams for application performance.

Skills

Backend engineering

Machine learning inference

Kubernetes

Problem-solving

Tools

vLLM

TensorRT-LLM

Golang

Job description

Software Engineer, Inference Infrastructure

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About Modular

At Modular, we’re on a mission to revolutionize AI infrastructure by systematically rebuilding the AI software stack from the ground up. Our team, made up of industry leaders and experts, is building cutting‑edge, modular infrastructure that simplifies AI development and deployment. By rethinking the complexities of AI systems, we’re empowering everyone to unlock AI’s full potential and tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

If you’re passionate about shaping the future of AI and creating tools that make a real difference in people’s lives, we want you on our team. You can read about our culture and careers to understand how we work and what we value.

About The Role

In the Cloud Inference team, we are focused on building end‑to‑end distributed LLM inference deployments that are fully vertically integrated with the MAX stack.

Our goal is to make inference both the fastest and most scalable, and to make those systems repeatable to new model architectures. We're seeking engineers who are passionate about pushing the boundaries of distributed inference systems and enjoy working at the intersection of large‑scale systems and machine learning. We are looking for candidates based on their breadth and depth of experience in backend engineering, AI inference, and distributed systems development. If this sounds exciting, we invite you to join our world‑leading AI infrastructure team and help drive our industry forward!

LOCATION

Candidates based in the US or Canada are welcome to apply. You can work out of our office in Los Altos, CA or remotely from home. To support growth and collaboration, those in earlier career stages work in a hybrid capacity at our Los Altos, CA office (minimum 2 days per week on‑site) with relocation assistance provided for out‑of‑state candidates. Senior members have both in‑office or remote flexibility. Onboarding for new hires is conducted in‑person in our Los Altos, CA office.

What You Will Do

• Build & ship Modular’s LLM focused inference services using best‑in‑class inference techniques (e.g., disaggregated inference, multi‑node deployment of large models, high performance networking, high throughput batch processing, etc)
• Build the distributed systems needed to support high performance inference (e.g., distributed kv‑cache, expert parallel request routing & rebalancing, etc)
• Push the envelope for operational excellence with request‑to‑kernel observability, multi‑cloud deployments, clever autoscaling, cold‑start optimizations, and more.
• Collaborate with our kernels and genAI teams to achieve SOTA application performance by integrating SOTA kernel & serving optimizations with SOTA cluster optimizations.
• Build helm charts, kubernetes operators, and more to make a create simple, effective, maintainable deployments.

What You Bring To The Table

• 5+ years of experience working in backend engineering
• Experience working on high‑scale ML inference infrastructure (traditional AI or genAI)
• Experience with kubernetes and operating your own services
• Ability to create durable, reusable software tools and libraries that are leveraged across teams and functions
• Creativity and curiosity for solving complex problems, a team‑oriented attitude that enables you to work well with others, and alignment with our culture
• Strongly identifies with our core company cultural values.

Helpful But Not Required

• Experience with high performance computing / networking (RDMA, RoCE, Infiniband, etc)
• Experience with LLM Frameworks vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT‑LLM
• Familiarity with golang

What Modular Brings To The Table

• Amazing Team. We are a progressive and agile team with some of the industry’s best engineering and product leaders.
• World‑class Benefits. In order to attract the best, we need to offer the best. Premier insurance plans, up to 5% 401k matching, flexible paid time off, and more are available to you! Please note that specific benefit packages may vary based on your location.
• Competitive Compensation. We offer very strong compensation packages, including stock options. We want people to be focused on their best work and believe in tailoring compensation plans to meet the needs of our workforce.
• Team Building Events. We organize regular team onsites and local meetups in Los Altos, CA as well as different cities. Traveling 2‑4 times a year is expected for all roles.

The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in the US, regardless of the state, is $167,000.00 - $273,000.00 USD.

The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in Canada, regardless of the province, is $164,000.00 - $280,000.00 CAD.

The salary for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of permissible, non‑discriminatory job‑related factors, which include but are not limited to education, training, work experience, business needs, or market demands. This range may be modified in the future. The total compensation for a candidate will also include annual target bonus, equity, and benefits, with equity making up a significant portion of your total compensation.

For candidates who fall outside of the listed requirements, we nevertheless encourage you to apply as we may have openings that are lower/higher level than the ones advertised.

Modular is proud to emphasize an equal opportunity, safe environment for people to do their best work. Modular is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

If you require reasonable accommodations to participate in the interview process, please let your recruiter know, and we will work with you to meet your needs in compliance with the ADA.

This employer participates in E‑Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E‑Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E‑Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.