Research Scientist / Engineer – Performance Optimization

Luma
Redwood City +8 more
Hybrid

Who this role is best for

Experienced GPU optimization experts with transformer knowledge will find this performance-focused role in a fast-growing domain.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with a proven track record in high-performance kernel development and distributed systems
    — “distributed multi-node production deployment”
  • Individuals who have worked extensively with CUDA and Triton in real-world applications
    — “expert-level Triton/CUDA programming and GPU optimization”
  • Professionals with strong PyTorch skills and a background in building custom operations
    — “Strong PyTorch skills, including kernel development and custom operations”

Things to consider

  • The role demands high expertise in low-level GPU optimization techniques, not just general knowledge
    — “If you're not at home in CUDA, Triton, and profilers, this is the wrong depth”

How to stand out

  • Highlight specific achievements in optimizing transformer models for production deployment
    — “Research and implement cutting-edge optimization techniques for transformer models”
  • Demonstrate experience with performance monitoring and automation frameworks
    — “Build performance monitoring and analysis tools and automation”
  • Showcase kernel fusion and tensor core utilization in prior projects
    — “Develop fused kernels and leverage tensor cores and modern hardware features across platforms”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · MediumAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Profiled and optimized GPU/CPU/accelerator code for maximum utilization and minimal latency
  • Developed high-performance PyTorch, Triton, and CUDA operations
  • Built performance monitoring and analysis tools
Typical background
Expert-level GPU optimizationDeep understanding of transformer architecturesExperience with profiling tools

Skills & requirements

Required

GPU OptimizationCUDATritonPyTorchProfiling ToolsTransformer ModelsFused KernelsTensor CoresDistributed Multi-node DeploymentPerformance MonitoringAutomation

Preferred

CompilersExportersInference WorkloadsLatency OptimizationThroughput OptimizationWarp-level IntrinsicsAdvanced CUDA Optimization

Stack & domain

GPU OptimizationCUDAPyTorchTritonTensor CoresFused KernelsTransformer ArchitecturesAttention MechanismsProfiling ToolsNvidia NsightTorch ProfilerCustom ToolingCompilersExportersTorch.compileTensorrtONNXXLAWarp-level IntrinsicsMultimodal ModelsPerformance OptimizationDistributed Multi-node Deployment

About the role

Original posting from Luma via Ashby

You'll make Luma's multimodal models fast — profiling and optimizing GPU, CPU, and accelerator code so they train efficiently and deploy at scale without sacrificing quality. You'll write the kernels and operations that get the most out of the hardware.

This is deep performance work: fused kernels, tensor cores, Triton and CUDA, distributed multi-node deployment. It fits someone with expert GPU-optimization skills and a deep understanding of transformer internals. If you're not at home in CUDA, Triton, and profilers, this is the wrong depth.

What You'll Own

  • Profile and optimize GPU/CPU/accelerator code for maximum utilization and minimal latency.
  • Write high-performance PyTorch, Triton, and CUDA, dropping to custom operations when needed.
  • Develop fused kernels and leverage tensor cores and modern hardware features across platforms.
  • Optimize model architectures and implementations for distributed multi-node production deployment.
  • Build performance monitoring and analysis tools and automation.
  • Research and implement cutting-edge optimization techniques for transformer models.

First 90 Days

One way the first 90 could unfold.

  • Days 1–30 — Immerse & Diagnose: Profile the current training and inference paths and find the biggest performance wins.
  • Days 30–60 — Ship & Validate: Land a kernel or architecture optimization that measurably improves utilization or latency.
  • Days 60–90 — Scale & Systemize: Build the monitoring and automation that keeps performance gains from regressing.

What You Bring

  • Expert-level Triton/CUDA programming and GPU optimization.
  • Strong PyTorch skills, including kernel development and custom operations.
  • Proficiency with profiling tools (NVIDIA Nsight, torch profiler, custom tooling).
  • Deep understanding of transformer architectures and attention mechanisms.

Nice to Have

  • Experience with compilers and exporters (torch.compile, TensorRT, ONNX, XLA).
  • Experience optimizing inference workloads for latency and throughput.
  • Triton compiler and kernel fusion techniques.
  • Knowledge of warp-level intrinsics and advanced CUDA optimization.

About Luma: Luma's mission is to build unified general intelligence that can generate, understand, and operate in the physical world. We believe multimodality is critical for intelligence — the next step beyond language models comes from vision. Luma is an equal opportunity employer.

Source: Luma careers (Ashby)

Similar roles