Software Engineer, AI and DL Kernel Libraries
NVIDIA is hiring a Software Engineer, AI and DL Kernel Libraries in Shanghai, China. Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
- The posting mentions vLLM, 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
Develop and optimize foundational AI systems software, inference runtimes, and deep learning kernel libraries for NVIDIA GPUs.
We're looking for outstanding AI systems software engineers to develop groundbreaking technologies across the inference systems software stack. Our team builds core AI systems software that accelerates high-impact workloads on NVIDIA GPUs, from deep learning primitives and kernel libraries to LLM inference runtimes, serving abstractions, and code generation technologies. As a member of the team, you will help design, build, optimize, and ship production-quality software that powers NVIDIA's AI software stack.
This role spans both foundational library engineering and next-generation inference systems work, with opportunities to contribute across the stack from low-level kernels and performance primitives to serving runtimes and developer-facing abstractions. You may work on GPU-accelerated deep learning primitives, efficient attention kernel implementations, LLM serving components, just-in-time compilation systems, software abstractions, and performance-critical runtime infrastructure for large language models, agents, and other advanced AI workloads. You will collaborate with world-class engineers across deep learning software, compilers, GPU architecture, and open-source inference ecosystems, and your work will directly impact NVIDIA's AI platform and the performance of real-world workloads at scale.
What you'll be doing:
Develop production-quality software that ships as part of NVIDIA's AI software stack, including cuDNN, FlashInfer, and optimized support for large language model inference workloads.
Innovate and develop new AI systems technologies for efficient inference, with a focus on performance, scalability, maintainability, and usability.
Design, implement, and optimize kernels for high-impact AI workloads across LLM inference, generative AI, computer vision, autonomous driving, and recommender systems.
Design and implement extensible software abstractions for deep learning libraries, LLM serving engines, and runtime systems.
Build and improve just-in-time compilation, code generation, and runtime technologies for performance-critical GPU workloads.
Analyze workload performance, tune current software, and propose improvements to future software and hardware-software interfaces.
Collaborate closely with engineers across deep learning frameworks, libraries, kernels, compilers, and GPU architecture teams at NVIDIA.
Contribute to open-source communities and ecosystem integrations where relevant, including projects such as FlashInfer, vLLM, and SGLang.
What we need to see:
Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
3+ years of relevant industry, research, or systems software development experience in machine learning, deep learning systems, compilers, or GPU software. More experience is expected for senior-level candidates.
Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python, with hands-on experience developing high-performance software.
Solid experience with CUDA development and GPU programming fundamentals.
Strong experience developing or using deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow, or ONNX.
Good understanding of linear algebra, performance analysis, profiling, and code optimization.
Experience designing software abstractions, APIs, or higher-level system architecture for performance-sensitive systems.
Familiarity with modern machine learning and inference system trends, especially around LLMs and generative AI.
For senior candidates, strong experience in GPU kernel development and performance optimization, especially using CUDA C/C++, cuTile, Triton, or similar technologies, is expected.
Ways to stand out from the crowd:
Hands-on experience with inference engines and runtimes such as vLLM, SGLang, MLC, TensorRT-LLM, or similar systems.
Background in domain-specific compiler, code generation, or library solutions for LLM inference and training.
Expertise in machine learning compilers or IR systems such as MLIR, Apache TVM, TensorIR, or related technologies.
Practical experience with GPU performance modeling, computer architecture, or accelerator-oriented software design.
Open-source project ownership or meaningful contributions in deep learning systems, compilers, kernels, or inference infrastructure.
How we rate this
Software Engineer, AI and DL Kernel Libraries at NVIDIA rates 95 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
- Typical software engineer job
- $167k
This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical software engineer figure when pay comes up. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
- Tell me about a project where deep learning was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where kernel optimization was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where inference runtimes was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where gpu architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Computer vision, Deep learning, Kernel Optimization, Inference Runtimes, and GPU Architecture. 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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