ML Engineer, Inference & Optimization

Full-time, on-site role in Palo Alto HQ, Research department.

About the role

We are seeking Senior/Staff level Inference Engineers to accelerate the performance of Pika's AI-driven products. In this highly technical role, you will operate at the intersection of cutting-edge inference acceleration, GPU parallelism, advanced model deployment, and video generation technologies. Your expertise will drive significant improvements to model speed and efficiency, ensuring our creative AI systems deliver industry-leading user experiences at scale. You will design and optimize inference pipelines, implement state-of-the-art acceleration techniques, and work closely with researchers and engineers across the team to push the boundaries of what’s possible in real-time AI deployment. Your efforts will play a foundational role in powering the next generation of Pika’s video and language models.

Responsibilities

• Accelerate Inference: Lead and implement advanced inference acceleration techniques, including attention optimization and quantization for efficient model serving.
• Maximize GPU Parallelism: Engineer and optimize GPU strategies across tensor, sequence, and pipeline parallelism (TP, SP, PP) for maximal efficiency and scalability.
• Programming for Performance: Develop and optimize high-performance computing kernels and distributed workloads using CUDA and NCCL.
• Advance AI Deployment: Collaborate with research and engineering teams to bring state-of-the-art videogen and large language models into production.
• Improve Training Efficiency: (Bonus) Contribute to improvements in model training speed, stability, and resource utilization as part of our deployment lifecycle.
• Technical Excellence: Drive rigorous code reviews, participate in technical discussions, and mentor fellow engineers on best practices in inference and GPU programming.

Requirements

• 5+ years engineering experience, with a strong track record in inference acceleration and model deployment at scale.
• Inference Mastery: Proven expertise in inference optimization, including quantization, attention acceleration, and deep learning compiler stacks.
• GPU & Parallelism: Deep knowledge of GPU programming (CUDA, NCCL) and experience with SP, TP, PP, and other forms of parallelism for distributed inference.
• AI Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with video generation (videogen) models and large language models (LLMs).
• Collaboration: Strong cross-discipline communication skills; able to drive shared goals across research and engineering functions.
• Ownership Mindset: Self-driven, solutions-oriented, and capable of managing ambiguity in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Bonus: Experience in enhancing training efficiency, stability, or resource optimization for large models.

Nice to Have

• Experience with high-throughput video or real-time streaming model deployment.
• Familiarity with distributed training and optimization toolkits.
• Contributions to open source projects in AI infrastructure or deep learning compilers.
• Startup or rapid prototyping experience.

Benefits

• Competitive salary in the AI industry.
• Equity in a fast-growing startup shaping the future of AI.
• Comprehensive health benefits, monthly stipends, company retreats.
• A supportive and collaborative office culture—we’re all building and launching together.

Pay

Base salary $250K – $350K.

Schedule

Work from our Palo Alto office 3–5 days a week.

About Pika

At Pika, we're crafting a future where video creation is seamless, intuitive, and universally accessible. Our mission is to empower creativity by breaking down technical barriers using the transformative power of AI. We’re a tight-knit, energetic team based in Palo Alto, CA, valuing efficiency, curiosity, and the ambition to make a meaningful impact on the world.