Senior Software Engineer - Compute Performance

Lambda is the #1 GPU Cloud for ML/AI teams training, fine-tuning and inferencing AI models, where engineers can easily, securely and affordably build, test and deploy AI products at scale. Lambda’s product portfolio includes on-prem GPU systems, hosted GPUs across public & private clouds and managed inference services – servicing government, researchers, startups and Enterprises world-wide.

If you'd like to build the world's best deep learning cloud, join us. 

*Note: This position requires presence in our San Francisco office location 4 days per week; Lambda’s designated work from home day is currently Tuesday.
Engineering at Lambda is responsible for building and scaling our cloud offering. Our scope includes the Lambda website, cloud APIs and systems as well as internal tooling for system deployment, management and maintenance.

What You’ll Do

• Join a world-class engineering team building the backbone of AI infrastructure.

• You’ll focus on deep performance instrumentation of Linux systems at scale, optimizing everything from the kernel to the network stack to GPU I/O paths.

• You’ll use tools like eBPF, perf, ftrace, bcc, bpftrace, and custom tracing frameworks to uncover bottlenecks, improve observability, and guide architectural decisions.

• You’ll collaborate with experts across kernel, storage, networking, and virtualization to improve the speed, reliability, and efficiency of our compute fleet.

• You’ll help design and implement a testing framework for sku based performance comparison and analysis.

You

• Background - Linux Performance Engineer (eBPF / Kernel Instrumentation)

• Linux - 8+ years profiling Linux based production systems. Strong understanding of Linux kernel internals (e.g. Memory Management, Process Scheduling, I/O Scheduling, Cgoups, NUMA, Page Cache, KVM Internals).

• Performance Tools - 8+ years hands-on experience with eBPF, perf, ftrace, systemtap, bpftrace, or other low-level instrumentation techniques. Bonus if you’ve built custom profiling tools.

• Architecture - Ability to reason from fundamental architectural principles. Deep understanding of modern hardware (x86_64, ARM64, GPUs), kernel/firmware interfaces, and system-level debugging.

• Programming Languages - Strong C and Python background. Rust, and Go are nice to have. Minimum of 8 years implementing business-critical systems, from initial conception to successful launch.

• Education - Computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, or physics preferred

You will be successful in this role if you have

• Owned ambiguous, high-impact initiatives from investigation to production

• Are energized by hunting down performance regressions or kernel quirks

• Enjoy profiling, benchmarking, and building tools to better understand system behavior

• Value working on a low ego team that emphasizes strong communication, collaboration, and getting to the right answer as a team.

• Write production-ready code that’s tested, maintainable, and performant

Salary Range Information 

Based on market data and other factors, the salary range for this position is $255,000-$405,000. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Lambda

• Founded in 2012, ~350 employees (2024) and growing fast

• We offer generous cash & equity compensation

• Our investors include Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, US Innovative Technology, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, Crescent Cove.

• We are experiencing extremely high demand for our systems, with quarter over quarter, year over year profitability

• Our research papers have been accepted into top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG

• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents

• Wellness and Commuter stipends for select roles

• 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)

• Flexible Paid Time Off Plan that we all actually use

A Final Note:

You do not need to match all of the listed expectations to apply for this position. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.