Staff Software Engineer, Inference

CoreWeave
Sunnyvale; CA / Bellevue, US
On-site

Who this role is best for

Best suited to experienced distributed systems engineers with Kubernetes expertise working in AI inference platforms at scale.

Best fit for

  • Technical leaders who can drive cross-team architecture and performance optimizations.
    — “act as a technical leader driving architecture, performance, and reliability
  • Engineers with deep Kubernetes production experience and distributed systems knowledge.
    — “Deep expertise in Kubernetes at production scale
  • Candidates comfortable with GPU optimization and low-latency system design.
    — “Experience designing and operating low-latency, high-throughput systems

Things to consider

  • Hybrid work arrangement with office proximity required for some locations.
    — “remote work may be considered for candidates located more than 30 miles from an office
  • Expect involvement in multi-team technical initiatives beyond individual contributions.
    — “leading cross-team technical initiatives impacting multiple services or organizations

How to stand out

  • Showcase specific metrics from past performance optimization projects.
    — “Experience improving system performance using metrics-driven approaches
  • Highlight hands-on experience with inference frameworks like vLLM or Triton.
    — “Experience with inference frameworks such as vLLM, Triton
  • Demonstrate leadership in system-wide reliability improvements at scale.
    — “improving system reliability at scale
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Senior

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

What success looks like

  • improved_system_reliability
  • optimized_gpu_utilization
  • enhanced_inference_performance
Typical background
distributed_systems_experiencekubernetes_production

Skills & requirements

Required

Distributed_systemsKubernetesPerformance_optimizationGpu_systemsNetworking

Preferred

Inference_frameworksMixed_precision

Stack & domain

GoPythonC++KubernetesCudaNcclRdmaNumaGpu InterconnectsAIMLInference SystemsDistributed SystemsCloud Platforms

About the role

Original posting from CoreWeave

CoreWeave is The Essential Cloud for AI™. Built for pioneers by pioneers, CoreWeave delivers a platform of technology, tools, and teams that enables innovators to build and scale AI with confidence. Trusted by leading AI labs, startups, and global enterprises, CoreWeave combines superior infrastructure performance with deep technical expertise to accelerate breakthroughs and turn compute into capability. Founded in 2017, CoreWeave became a publicly traded company (Nasdaq: CRWV) in March 2025. Learn more at www.coreweave.com.

What You’ll Do:

Inference Platform TeamThe Inference team builds and operates CoreWeave’s Kubernetes-native inference platform, powering low-latency, high-throughput AI workloads at massive scale. The team is responsible for request routing, scheduling, GPU resource management, and system-wide optimizations that drive performance, efficiency, and reliability across real-time inference systems.

About the role:As a Staff Software Engineer (IC5) on the Inference team, you will act as a technical leader driving architecture, performance, and reliability across multiple services and teams. Your day-to-day will involve leading cross-team design initiatives, optimizing inference performance (latency, throughput, and GPU utilization), and improving system reliability at scale. You will work deeply in distributed systems and Kubernetes-based infrastructure, focusing on areas like scheduling, batching, and memory optimization. This role requires hands-on technical leadership and the ability to influence engineering direction across the organization.

Who You Are:

8–12+ years of experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems or cloud platforms

Proven experience leading cross-team technical initiatives impacting multiple services or organizations

Strong programming skills in Go, Python, or C++

Deep expertise in Kubernetes at production scale, including orchestration, scheduling, and service design

Strong understanding of distributed systems, networking, and performance optimization

Experience designing and operating low-latency, high-throughput systems with strict P95/P99 latency requirements

Hands-on experience with inference systems, including batching or micro-batching strategies, caching, and memory optimization

Experience improving system performance using metrics-driven approaches (e.g., latency, throughput, utilization)

Familiarity with mixed precision (BF16, FP8) and streaming inference workloads

Preferred:

Experience with inference frameworks such as vLLM, Triton, TensorRT-LLM, Ray Serve, or TorchServe

Experience with GPU systems and performance optimization (CUDA, NCCL, RDMA, NUMA, GPU interconnects)

Experience leading multi-team or org-level technical initiatives

Exposure to large-scale AI/ML infrastructure or hyperscale cloud environments

Wondering if you’re a good fit?We believe in investing in our people, and value candidates who can bring their own diversified experiences to our teams – even if you aren't a 100% skill or experience match. Here are a few qualities we’ve found compatible with our team. If some of this describes you, we’d love to talk.

You love to design and optimize high-performance distributed systems at scale

You’re curious about AI inference, GPU systems, and emerging performance techniques

You’re an expert in building reliable, low-latency infrastructure and driving system-wide improvements

Why CoreWeave?At CoreWeave, we work hard, have fun, and move fast! We’re in an exciting stage of hyper-growth that you will not want to miss out on. We’re not afraid of a little chaos, and we’re constantly learning. Our team cares deeply about how we build our product and how we work together, which is represented through our core values:

Be Curious at Your Core

Act Like an Owner

Empower Employees

Deliver Best-in-Class Client Experiences

Achieve More Together

We support and encourage an entrepreneurial outlook and independent thinking. We foster an environment that encourages collaboration and enables the development of innovative solutions to complex problems. As we get set for takeoff, the organization's growth opportunities are constantly expanding. You will be surrounded by some of the best talent in the industry, who will want to learn from you, too. Come join us!

The base salary range for this role is $188,000 to $275,000. The starting salary will be determined based on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location. We strive for both market alignment and internal equity when determining compensation. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package includes a discretionary bonus, equity awards, and a comprehensive benefits program (all based on eligibility).

What We Offer

The range we’ve posted represents the typical compensation range for this role. To determine actual compensation, we review the market rate for each candidate which can include a variety of factors. These include qualifications, experience, interview performance, and location.

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a variety of benefits to support your needs, including:

Medical, dental, and vision insurance - 100% paid for by CoreWeave

Company-paid Life Insurance 

Voluntary supplemental life insurance 

Short and long-term disability insurance 

Flexible Spending Account

Health Savings Account

Tuition Reimbursement 

Ability to Participate in Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

Mental Wellness Benefits through Spring Health 

Family-Forming support provided by Carrot

Paid Parental Leave 

Flexible, full-service childcare support with Kinside

401(k) with a generous employer match

Flexible PTO

Catered lunch each day in our office and data center locations

A casual work environment

A work culture focused on innovative disruption

Our Workplace

While we prioritize a hybrid work environment, remote work may be considered for candidates located more than 30 miles from an office, based on role requirements for specialized skill sets. New hires will be invited to attend onboarding at one of our hubs within their first month. Teams also gather quarterly to support collaboration.

California Consumer Privacy Act - California applicants only

CoreWeave is an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace. All qualified applicants and candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.

As part of this commitment and consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), CoreWeave will ensure that qualified applicants and candidates with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact: careers@coreweave.com.

 

Export Control Compliance

This position requires access to export controlled information.  To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicable to that information, applicant must either be (A) a U.S. person, defined as a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, (B) eligible to access the export controlled information without a required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency.  CoreWeave may, for legitimate business reasons, decline to pursue any export licensing process.

Source: CoreWeave careers

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