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Software Engineer - Inference Platform

Baseten· EPD
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Hybrid (San Francisco), Hybrid (Toronto), Hybrid (New York), Hybrid (Montreal), Hybrid (Seattle)$180k - $360kFull-timePosted 2w ago

About the role

Distributed systems engineer role building the Baseten Inference Platform for large-scale LLM inference, routing, autoscaling, model APIs, and Kubernetes-based deployments.

Responsibilities

  • Build the infrastructure and orchestration systems that deploy and run large-scale distributed LLM inference, including routing, autoscaling, scheduling, and runtime management.
  • Design, build, and operate Model APIs, with a focus on advanced inference capabilities: structured outputs (JSON mode, grammar-constrained generation), tool/function calling, and multimodal serving.
  • Implement platform fundamentals such as API versioning, validation, usage metering, quotas, and authentication.
  • Instrument deep observability (metrics, traces, logs) and build repeatable benchmarks for speed, reliability, and quality. Help set best practices for testing, release automation, and operational excellence.
  • Debug and harden complex production systems spanning Kubernetes, distributed runtimes, networking, and GPU workloads to improve reliability and scalability.
  • Partner with Inference Performance engineers and other teams to make new optimizations broadly available to customers and easy to configure.
  • Own projects end to end, from architecture through deployment, monitoring, and iteration on customer feedback. Along the way, make thoughtful tradeoffs between performance, reliability, operational simplicity, and developer experience.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
  • 3+ years building and operating distributed systems, backend infrastructure, or large-scale APIs where reliability, latency, and scale are first-class concerns.
  • A proven track record of owning low-latency, reliable backend services, including rate limiting, auth, quotas, metering, and migrations.
  • Infrastructure instincts with a feel for performance: profiling, tracing, capacity planning, and SLO management.
  • Comfort debugging performance and reliability issues across multiple layers of the stack, from application behavior down to runtime and infrastructure internals.
  • A strong sense of developer experience. You think about how systems are used, not just how they work.
  • Eagerness to learn new languages, frameworks, and systems, and a real interest in inference engineering. Prior ML or LLM experience isn't required, though experience with model serving or inference systems is a plus.
  • Excellent written communication and collaboration skills, including writing clear design docs and working across functions.

Skills

Required:Distributed systemsBackend services ownershipPerformance profiling & observabilityDeveloper experience

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity
  • (U.S. only) 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents
  • Flexible PTO policy including company wide Winter Break (our offices are closed from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day)
  • Paid parental leave
  • Fertility and family-building stipend through Carrot
  • (U.S. only) Company-facilitated 401(k)
  • Exposure to a variety of ML startups, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities.
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Baseten

Inference is everything

Effortlessly serve optimized open source & custom models on the fastest, most reliable model delivery network.

AICloud InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsInference PlatformMachine LearningModel DeploymentModel Runtimesai-infrastructure-and-development
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