VA

Systems/GPU Research Engineer

Vast.ai
Posted onFeb 23, 2026
LocationSan Francisco, California, United States | Los Angeles, California, United States (On-site)
Employment typeFull-time
Salary$160k – $320k Yearly

About Us

Vast.ai’s cloud powers AI projects and businesses all over the world. We are democratizing and decentralizing AI computing—reshaping our future for the benefit of humanity.

We are a small, growing, and highly motivated team dedicated to an ambitious technical plan. We operate with a flat mobile organizational structure where all contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is earned by those who show initiative and deliver excellence. 

We seek engineers/researchers with strong intrinsic drive, a true passion for advancing the state of the art, and a mix of excellent research, coding, and communication skills.

LOCATION: On-site at our office in San Francisco or Westwood, Los Angeles.

About the Role

As a systems/GPU engineer, you will play a crucial role in developing new kernels and algorithms that can improve inference for AI models. You will help develop new high-performance tensor libraries and auto-optimization tools. Collaborating directly with our technical founder and diverse team, you will enhance the performance and efficiency of our AI systems. Your ability to research and stay on top of cutting-edge papers will be vital in staying up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI model inference and GPU programming techniques.

  • Full-Time
  • On-site at either our SF or LA offices

Tech Stack

C++/CUDA, GPGPU, Python, Linux

Ideal Experience

  • Expertise in systems engineering across the tech stack
  • Deep understanding of GPU architectures
  • Strong holistic background in neural network performance and tooling
  • Published research at top AI conferences

Key Responsibilities

  • Develop or extend parallel generic GPU libraries and kernels
  • Help design and deploy market-based resource management systems 
  • Quickly investigate and summarize options for new system architectures
  • Prototype and evaluate novel state-of-the-art methods/models
  • Investigate and learn new frameworks and tools

Interview Process

After submitting your application, our technical team reviews your credentials. If selected, you'll proceed through the following stages:

  • Initial screening (virtual, 15 minutes)
  • Quick dive into Vast, systems and architectures (virtual, 30 minutes)
  • LLM-assisted coding assessment (virtual, 1 hour)
  • Meet and greet with coding assessment (on-site, 2 hours)

Our goal is to complete the interview process in two weeks.

Annual Salary Range

$160,000 – $320,000 + equity + benefits

Vast.ai is hiring across all experience levels with compensation commensurate with background, experience and potential.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and life insurance
  • 401(k) with company match 
  • Meaningful early-stage equity
  • Onsite meals, snacks, and close collaboration with founders/tech leaders
  • Ambitious, fast-paced startup culture where initiative is rewarded

Vast.ai is the market leader for low cost GPU rentals, connecting data centers and professionals with users who need AI compute at prices 3-5X cheaper than traditional cloud providers.

Similar jobs

You might also be interested in...

TA5d

LLM Inference Frameworks and Optimization Engineer

Together AI

San Francisco, California, United States (On-site)

$160k – $230k Yearly

MA2w

Research Engineer

Magic

San Francisco, California, United States (On-site)

$225k – $550k Yearly

TA5d

Systems Research Engineer, GPU Programming

Together AI

San Francisco, California, United States (Hybrid)

$160k – $230k Yearly

TM5d

Research Engineer, Infrastructure, Inference

Thinking Machines Lab

San Francisco, California, United States (On-site)

$350k – $475k Yearly

BA1w

Software Engineer - Model Performance

Baseten

San Francisco, California, United States (On-site)

$150k – $250k Yearly