Inference Performance Engineer, Agent Driven Inference Optimization
NVIDIA is hiring an Inference Performance Engineer, Agent Driven Inference Optimization in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $124k-$196k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
- The posting mentions vLLM, PyTorch and AI agents among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a mid-level role.
- NVIDIA has 2,800+ other open roles on Level.
- Posted in the last few days.
AI in this role
NVIDIA is recruiting a Senior Inference Performance Engineer to push NVIDIA's performance limits on large-scale AI inference benchmarks. This position provides an outstanding opportunity to employ your optimization knowledge in an autonomous optimization framework. AI agents use this framework to repeatedly run benchmark, profile, and tune processes, amplifying the impact of every technique you design. If you enjoy extracting maximum performance from GPUs and scaling your skills beyond your individual efforts, this role is a great fit!
What you'll be doing:
Distill your performance instincts into reusable skills, workflows, and evidence-backed methodologies that AI agents can complete autonomously. Review agent-generated experiments, validate findings, and curate best-known configurations.
Performance improvement of AI inference workloads that methodically increase throughput-per-GPU and user interactivity by exploring configuration options, parallelism techniques, batching, KV cache handling, quantization, and speculative decoding settings.
Measure and optimize both aggregated and disaggregated serving architectures across TensorRT-LLM, SGLang, vLLM, and Dynamo on NVIDIA's latest GPU platforms.
Profile workloads using Nsight Systems, kernel traces, and internal analysis tools. Use roofline and speed-of-light analysis to find credible headroom and drive fixes from hypothesis to measured wins.
Land improvements upstream: serving framework patches, optimized kernels, and deployment recipes that advance the public Pareto frontier while maintaining strict model correctness.
Collaborate with TensorRT-LLM, SGLang, vLLM, kernel, benchmarking, and GPU architecture teams to convert profiling insights into delivered performance improvements.
What we need to see:
BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Math, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
3+ years of relevant engineering experience.
Must have: Extensive knowledge of the efficiency and optimization involved in AI model execution, covering continuous batching, throughput-latency tradeoffs, KV cache and memory limitations, parallel processing techniques, MoE serving, quantization, and meeting serving SLAs.
Must have: Hands-on experience benchmarking and profiling GPU workloads using tools such as Nsight Systems, Nsight Compute, CUPTI, or PyTorch profiler, and interpreting kernel-level performance data.
Strong Python engineering skills and the ability to navigate and modify large C++/CUDA serving codebases.
Rigorous experimental methodology with controlled single-variable comparisons, reproducible benchmarks, and evidence-backed optimization decisions.
Strong written and verbal communication skills to explain performance tradeoffs clearly to both humans and documentation for autonomous systems.
Ways to stand out from the crowd:
Direct contributions to TensorRT-LLM, vLLM, SGLang, FlashInfer, Dynamo, or comparable inference frameworks.
Experience with disaggregated serving, wide expert-parallel MoE inference, KV cache transfer, or NCCL/NIXL/NVSHMEM communication at multi-node scale.
CUDA kernel authorship or optimization experience on Hopper/Blackwell architectures, focusing on Tensor Cores, TMA, and warp specialization.
Proven results on public inference benchmarks such as MLPerf Inference or SemiAnalysis InferenceX.
Experience building or operating agentic AI workflows to automate engineering tasks.
Widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers, NVIDIA offers highly competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package. As you plan your future, see what we can offer to you and your family www.nvidiabenefits.com/
#LI-Hybrid
Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:124,000 USD – 195,500 USD for Level 2; and 152,000 USD – 241,500 USD for Level 3.
You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.
Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 13, 2026.This posting is for an existing vacancy.
NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.
NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.How we rate this
Inference Performance Engineer, Agent Driven Inference Optimization at NVIDIA rates 97 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
- Walk me through how you've used vLLM in your day-to-day work.
- What are the limits of PyTorch that you've run into, and how did you work around them?
- How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
- Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI agents, vLLM, and PyTorch. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.
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