Tech Lead - AI Compiler

Job Title: Technical Lead - AI Compiler Engineering

Location: San Francisco
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience
Industry: AI Software and Computing Infrastructure

Overview of the Role

We are working with a technology business developing software infrastructure to improve the performance and efficiency of advanced computing systems.

They are looking to hire a Technical Lead to drive the design and development of compiler technologies and performance-critical software for AI and machine learning workloads.

This role combines hands-on C++ engineering, architectural decision-making and technical leadership. You will work closely with software, systems and hardware engineers to optimise workloads, enable new computing capabilities and deliver reliable, high-performance software.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture and development of compiler infrastructure and software components for AI workloads.
• Design and optimise compiler transformations, intermediate representations, code generation and execution pipelines.
• Improve performance through operation fusion, workload scheduling, memory optimisation and hardware-specific techniques.
• Own complex engineering projects from design through implementation, testing and deployment.
• Collaborate with hardware, runtime and machine learning teams to improve system capabilities and workload performance.
• Debug complex functional, integration and performance issues across software and hardware layers.
• Establish engineering best practices, lead technical reviews and mentor engineers.
• Drive technical planning and delivery across multiple contributors and engineering teams.

Candidate Profile

Essential

• 8+ years of software engineering experience in systems software, compilers, computing infrastructure or performance-critical applications.
• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, Computer Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong C++ programming skills and knowledge of data structures, algorithms and software architecture.
• Technical expertise in at least one of the following: compiler design, operating systems, computer architecture, high-performance computing or accelerator software.
• Proven experience leading complex technical projects from design through implementation and delivery.
• Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring engineers and making architectural decisions.

Highly Preferred

• Experience with compiler frameworks such as LLVM, MLIR, XLA, TVM or similar technologies.
• Knowledge of compiler optimisation, intermediate representations, lowering pipelines or code generation.
• Familiarity with machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow, or model formats such as ONNX.
• Experience with GPUs, NPUs, custom accelerators, parallel computing or heterogeneous systems.

Beneficial

• Experience with performance profiling, benchmarking and regression testing.
• Knowledge of memory management, operator fusion, scheduling and hardware-specific optimisation.
• Experience leading cross-functional engineering initiatives and improving software development practices.

Darwin Recruitment is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.