Staff AI Application Engineer - Heterogeneous Computing
Axelera AI3 hours ago
Remote, United Kingdom +38 moreStaff+
Responsibilities
- Build the model enablement platform and agent harness for partitioning, compiling, running, profiling, and verifying models on real hardware.
- Own model ingestion and partitioning across the AIPU’s matrix and RISC-V vector units, host CPU, and host accelerators.
- Extend heterogeneous execution to large models, cascades, and multi-model pipelines using techniques such as expert offloading and caching.
- Optimize end-to-end performance through host/device overlap, zero-copy buffers, batching, multi-core scheduling, and multi-input execution.
- Profile device time, host time, and data movement, and validate improvements in complete application pipelines.
- Study customer-critical models on Metis and Europa and convert findings into platform improvements.
Requirements
- 8+ years of engineering experience in systems, compilers, runtimes, or performance, including system-level design ownership.
- Hands-on heterogeneous-computing experience across CPU, GPU, DSP, NPU, or FPGA, including compute, memory-bandwidth, latency, and data-movement analysis.
- Strong fundamentals in computer architecture, operating systems, and parallel programming.
- Familiarity with ML graph representations and compiler concepts including graph capture, lowering, operator fusion, partitioning, and memory planning.
- Strong C++ and Python skills.
- Daily experience using AI coding agents for real engineering work, with the ability to review and test their output.
- Preferred: experience with MLIR, TVM, XLA, TorchInductor, IREE, or another compiler framework.
- Preferred: experience with inference runtimes or execution engines such as ONNX Runtime execution providers or custom NPU/DSP runtimes.
- Preferred: GPU compute with CUDA, OpenCL, or Vulkan, or SIMD optimization on Arm or x86.
- Preferred: experience with large-model execution techniques, agent environments, evaluation harnesses, verification frameworks, or MCP-based tooling.
Benefits
- Attractive compensation package including a pension plan, extensive employee insurances, and the option to receive company shares.
- Flexible work arrangement: office-based, fully remote from a European country where the candidate already resides, or relocation to Italy or the Netherlands.
- Office locations include Leuven, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Zurich, Florence, Milan, and Bristol; priority is given to candidates interested in Belgium or Italy.
- Inclusive, collaborative culture with freedom and responsibility in a fast-growing international organization.
Categories
About Axelera AI
Axelera AI builds AI accelerators and an edge inference software stack (the Metis AI Platform) for computer vision and other workloads, selling chips, cards, and developer kits to OEMs and solution providers. Privately held and founded in 2021, it is headquartered in Eindhoven with R&D offices in Belgium, Switzerland, the UK, and Italy. The company focuses on on-device AI deployments where latency, power, and cost are critical.