Level

Luma AI

Software Engineer - Data Infrastructure

Luma AI is hiring a Software Engineer - Data Infrastructure for a remote role open to applicants in United States. It pays $170k-$360k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Luma AI.

Level's read on this job

  • On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
  • The listed pay starts close to the typical software engineer posting on Level.
  • The posting lists this role as remote.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include Python, Ray and Spark.
  • Level lists 29 other open roles at Luma AI.

AI in this role

Data Infrastructure Engineer building high-throughput data processing pipelines for multimodal AI research.

pythonraysparkbeam
ai-researchdata-engineeringdistributed-systemsmachine-learningdata-pipelines

About the Role

As a Data Infrastructure Engineer in Research at Luma, you will play a critical role in building and scaling the data infrastructure that supports our cutting-edge multimodal AI systems. Your work will focus on developing high-throughput, large-scale data processing pipelines tailored for machine learning research and internal ML platform needs. You will collaborate closely with ML researchers and product teams to create reliable, efficient, and easy-to-use data infrastructure that empowers innovation and accelerates development. This role requires a strong foundation in distributed systems and data engineering, with an emphasis on supporting complex machine learning workflows rather than traditional product data infrastructure.

 

Responsibilities

  • Build and maintain scalable data infrastructure for high-throughput machine learning workflows

  • Collaborate with ML researchers and product teams to ensure data systems meet evolving needs

  • Develop and optimize large-scale data pipelines and batch processing jobs

  • Contribute to the architecture and implementation of reliable, high-performance data platforms

  • Integrate open-source tools and continuously improve data infrastructure through monitoring and tuning

  • Participate in cross-functional projects to improve data reliability, scalability, and operational excellence

  • Support the evaluation and adoption of new programming languages and frameworks relevant to data infrastructure

  • Engage in continuous improvement of data infrastructure through monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance tuning

  • Collaborate with research & engineering teams to help define and refine best practices for data infrastructure development

 

Qualifications

  • Proficiency in Python (or similar languages with willingness to learn Python) and experience with large-scale, high-throughput data infrastructure

  • Familiarity with distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Ray, Spark, Beam)

  • Ability to design and optimize data pipelines for ML research and internal teams

  • Strong problem-solving skills and understanding of data engineering at scale

  • Collaborative, product-focused mindset; comfortable in fast-paced environments

  • Experience sourcing, integrating, and optimizing data from diverse and large datasets

  • Comfortable working in a fast-paced, product-focused environment with a strong execution mindset

  • Open to candidates across seniority levels, from mid-level individual contributors to senior engineers and managers.

 

Nice to have

  • Prior experience working with complex data infrastructure or AI/ML platforms highly desirable

  • Experience with open source data infrastructure projects is a plus

  • Experience working in the robotics industry preferred

How we rate this

Software Engineer - Data Infrastructure at Luma AI rates 80 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.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ 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

AI ResearchData EngineeringDistributed SystemsMachine learningData PipelinesPythonRaySpark

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$170k
Typical software engineer job
$168k

This posting starts close to the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
  2. Tell me about a project where data engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where data pipelines was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: AI Research, Data Engineering, Distributed Systems, Machine learning, and Data Pipelines. 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.

Want an expert to read your CV for this job?

Free. Send your CV and the role you want next. We reply by email within 2 to 4 business days.

Get new remote software engineer jobs (Builds AI ●●●●) by email

One email a week with the new remote software engineer jobs (Builds AI ●●●●), each rated for how much AI is in the work. No recruiter spam, unsubscribe in one click.

Free. One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click.

Similar roles

Software Engineering roles that build AI, at other companies.

What kind of AI work fits you?

Answer 12 practical questions in about three minutes. Get a simple profile, the work it points to, and live roles to explore next.

Find my next step

More jobs at Luma AI

More software engineer jobs

Related searches

Same AI level

Jobs by city