System Software Engineer - AI

About the role

We are a stealth-mode startup building foundational technology to address performance, scalability, and resiliency challenges in large-scale AI data center clusters. We are backed by top-tier VC firms and notable angel investors. The company is led by experienced builders and operators who have founded companies, taken them to scale, and exited successfully. We work with a strong sense of unity and shared responsibility, and we expect trust, integrity, and respect in how we collaborate and make decisions. We hold ourselves accountable to one another and to the quality of the work we deliver.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate across the stack to influence the design of our foundational technology, ensuring it meets the needs of next-generation AI models.
• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in distributed training and inference workloads through deep-dive analysis of the software-hardware interface.
• Conduct rigorous performance benchmarking and characterization on multi-node clusters.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python, with a deep understanding of systems programming fundamentals (memory management, concurrency, OS internals).
• Proficient in a Linux development environment.

Desired Skills

• Experience with GPU programming (CUDA) and performance optimization for parallel architectures.
• Familiarity with distributed AI frameworks (PyTorch, JAX, or DeepSpeed) and/or inference engines (vLLM, SGLang, Dynamo/TRT-LLM).
• Hands-on experience with large-scale cluster orchestration and telemetry tools.

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

Location

This is a hybrid role based in Palo Alto or Charlottesville, VA.

Pay

Target base salary for this role is $140,000 - $200,000 per year + meaningful equity + benefits + 401k.

Schedule

Hybrid schedule based in Palo Alto or Charlottesville, VA.

Benefits

Includes benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.

Agency Note

We do not accept resumes from agencies or search firms. Please do not forward candidate profiles through our careers page, email, LinkedIn messages, or directly to company employees. Any resumes submitted will be deemed the property of the company, and no fees will be paid in the event the candidate is hired.