Senior Principal Machine Learning Engineer
SambaNova· Software
San Jose, CA$220k - $300kFull-timePosted 2mo ago
About the role
Senior Principal ML Engineer responsible for designing, developing, and optimizing ML models (focus on large language models) to run efficiently on SambaNova's RDU hardware, bridging advanced ML research with practical deployment and co-design with hardware and compiler teams.
Responsibilities
- Define and drive technical strategy for ML model development, training pipelines, and inference systems on SambaNova's RDU and broader hardware ecosystem
- Lead hardware-software co-design efforts in close collaboration with compiler, systems, and hardware teams—shaping architectural decisions that unlock performance at scale
- Identify, evaluate, and champion state-of-the-art ML techniques (e.g., speculative decoding, reinforcement learning, mixture-of-experts, long-context modeling) for adoption and adaptation on reconfigurable dataflow architectures
- Serve as the senior technical voice in critical design reviews, architectural decisions, and cross-functional planning—providing guidance that influences product and engineering roadmaps
- Mentor and develop principal and senior ML engineers, elevating the technical capabilities of the organization through active collaboration, design feedback, and knowledge transfer
- Partner with product and engineering leadership to translate complex ML capabilities into scalable, customer-facing solutions in SambaStack and SambaCloud
- Drive resolution of the most complex, ambiguous technical challenges—including those that span organizational boundaries or require novel approaches not yet established in the field
Qualifications
- B.S. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- 8+ years of industry experience in machine learning engineering, with a demonstrated record of technical leadership on large-scale or novel ML systems
- Deep expertise in LLM training, fine-tuning, inference optimization, and evaluation at scale
- Strong background in ML algorithms, deep learning architectures, and modern training methodologies, with the ability to critically evaluate and advance the state of the art
- Demonstrated ability to lead and align cross-functional technical efforts, mentor senior engineers, and influence organizational direction without direct management authority
- Track record of independently scoping and delivering high-complexity, high-ambiguity technical projects
Skills
Required:ML model development and deploymentHardware-software co-designLLM training/fine-tuningInference optimizationMentorship
Benefits
- Health insurance with premium coverage details, including 95% for employee medical, 77% for dependents
- Health Savings Account (HSA) with employer contribution
- Dental, Vision, Short/Long term Disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, and AD&D insurance
- Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
- Headspace subscription
- Gympass+ membership
- One Medical membership
- Employee Assistance Program and counseling services
Last updated Sep 13, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About SambaNova
The Fastest AI Inference Platform
Discover SambaNova - the complete AI platform delivering the fastest AI inference, fine-tuning, and scalable solutions for agentic AI easily integrated into existing data center infrastructures.
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