Senior System Software Engineer - GPU Performance
NVIDIA is hiring a Senior System Software Engineer - GPU Performance in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $152k-$242k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.
Level's read on this job
- Level rates this software engineer role Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
- The posting mentions PyTorch and TensorFlow among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a senior role.
- NVIDIA has 2,700+ other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
NVIDIA is leading the way in groundbreaking developments in Artificial Intelligence, High Performance Computing and Visualization. The GPU, our invention, serves as the visual cortex of modern computers and is at the heart of our products and services. Our work opens up new universes to explore, enables amazing creativity and discovery, and powers what were once science fiction inventions from artificial intelligence to autonomous cars.
We are the GPU Communications Libraries and Networking team at NVIDIA. We deliver libraries like NCCL, NVSHMEM, UCX for Deep Learning and HPC. We are looking for a motivated Performance engineer to influence the roadmap of our communication libraries. The DL and HPC applications of today have a huge compute demand and run on scales which go up to tens of thousands of GPUs. The GPUs are connected with high-speed interconnects (eg. NVLink, PCIe) within a node and with high-speed networking (eg. Infiniband, Ethernet) across the nodes. Communication performance between the GPUs has a direct impact on the end-to-end application performance; and the stakes are even higher at huge scales! This is an outstanding opportunity for someone with HPC and performance background to advance the state of the art in this space. Are you ready for to contribute to the development of innovative technologies and help realize NVIDIA's vision?
What you will be doing:
Conduct in-depth performance characterization and analysis on large multi-GPU and multi-node clusters.
Study the interaction of our libraries with all HW (GPU, CPU, Networking) and SW components in the stack
Evaluate proof-of-concepts, conduct trade-off analysis when multiple solutions are available
Triage and root-cause performance issues reported by our customers
Collect a lot of performance data; build tools and infrastructure to visualize and analyze the information
Collaborate with a very dynamic team across multiple time zones
What we need to see:
M.S. (or equivalent experience) or PhD in Computer Science, or related field with relevant performance engineering and HPC experience
3+ yrs of experience with parallel programming and at least one communication runtime (MPI, NCCL, UCX, NVSHMEM)
Experience conducting performance benchmarking and triage on large scale HPC clusters
Good understanding of computer system architecture, HW-SW interactions and operating systems principles (aka systems software fundamentals)
Implement micro-benchmarks in C/C++, read and modify the code base when required
Ability to debug performance issues across the entire HW/SW stack. Proficient in a scripting language, preferably Python
Familiar with containers, cloud provisioning and scheduling tools (Kubernetes, SLURM, Ansible, Docker)
Adaptability and passion to learn new areas and tools. Flexibility to work and communicate effectively across different teams and timezones
Ways to stand out from the crowd:
Practical experience with Infiniband/Ethernet networks in areas like RDMA, topologies, congestion control
Experience debugging network issues in large scale deployments
Familiarity with CUDA programming and/or GPUs
Experience with Deep Learning Frameworks such PyTorch, TensorFlow
152,000 USD – 241,500 USD for Level 3; and 184,000 USD – 287,500 USD for Level 4.
You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.
Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 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
Senior System Software Engineer - GPU Performance at NVIDIA rates 89 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
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $152k
- Typical software engineer job
- $167k
This posting starts 9% below the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- What's a project where you used PyTorch hands-on?
- Walk me through how you've used TensorFlow 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: PyTorch and TensorFlow. 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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