ML Infrastructure Engineer - New Grad
SambaNova Systems is hiring an ML Infrastructure Engineer - New Grad in Austin and San Jose, United States. It pays $131k-$197k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on SambaNova Systems.
Level's read on this job
- Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this role: the job is building AI systems.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include vLLM and PyTorch.
- Level classifies it as a junior role.
- Level lists 68 other open roles at SambaNova Systems.
- The role was posted in the last few days.
AI in this role
SambaNova is a leader in next-generation AI infrastructure, delivering a full-stack inference platform for customers worldwide. At the core of SambaNova's technology is the RDU (Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit) — a chip built on a dataflow architecture rather than the traditional GPU model. Its decode performance is especially strong for agentic workloads like multi-turn agents, code generation, and long-running applications. RDUs are packaged into SambaRack, rack-scale hardware that lets customers deploy state-of-the-art models with better performance, greater energy efficiency, and faster time to value.
About the Team
The ML Infrastructure team builds and operates the inference stack that serves SambaNova's models on our RDU accelerators. We cover request scheduling, caching, decoding techniques, public APIs, and the accuracy testing that every inference feature must pass before it ships.
About the Role
As a new grad ML Infrastructure Engineer, you'll write production Python for our inference serving stack, including our vLLM integration and public APIs. You'll help bring features like speculative decoding, prompt caching, and tool calling into production on the RDU, and add accuracy and regression tests that catch problems before customers do.
Responsibilities
- Implement inference features on the RDU such as speculative decoding, constrained decoding, tool calling, prompt caching, and long-context inference
- Adapt vLLM and related serving frameworks to the RDU architecture
- Build and maintain endpoints in the public inference API
- Write accuracy verification and regression tests for inference features
- Debug latency, throughput, and reliability issues in production services
Required Qualifications
- B.S. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Strong programming skills in Python
- Understanding of algorithms, data structures, concurrency, and systems design
- Coursework or project experience in distributed systems or machine learning
- Experience with LLM serving frameworks such as vLLM, SGLang, or TensorRT-LLM
- Experience with inference techniques such as speculative decoding, KV caching, or continuous batching
- Experience with PyTorch
Preferred Qualifications
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Experience building or maintaining APIs or backend services
- Internship or research experience in ML systems or backend infrastructure
- Experience with disaggregated systems - prefill/decode
- Open source project ownership or contributions
Base Salary Range:
Base Pay Range$131,200—$196,800 USDSubmission Guidelines
Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at SambaNova Systems, you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified.
EEO Policy
SambaNova Systems is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.
Benefits Summary for US-Based, Full-Time Employment Positions
SambaNova offers a competitive total rewards package, including the base salary, plus equity and benefits. We cover 95% premium coverage for employee medical insurance, and 77% premium coverage for dependents and offer a Health Savings Account (HSA) with employer contribution. We also offer Dental, Vision, Short/Long term Disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, and AD&D insurance plans in addition to Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options like Health Care, Limited Purpose, and Dependent Care. Our library of well-being benefits available to you and your dependents includes a full subscription to Headspace, Gympass+ membership with access to physical gyms, One Medical membership, counseling services with an Employee Assistance Program, and much more.
How we rate this
ML Infrastructure Engineer - New Grad at SambaNova Systems rates 93 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
- What's a project where you used vLLM hands-on?
- Walk me through how you've used PyTorch in your day-to-day work.
- 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: 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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