Applied AI Engineer, Kernel Performance at Etched
San Jose, CA
$150,000–$225,000
Jul 22, 2026
San Jose, CA
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on building AI-driven systems that automatically convert newly released model architectures into optimized, production-ready kernel implementations for proprietary inference hardware. The work spans agent design, experiment infrastructure, eval frameworks, dataset curation, and fine-tuning — all aimed at making the optimization loop faster and more autonomous. It suits engineers comfortable operating across low-level kernel code, LLM-based tooling, and production deployment simultaneously.
Senior level · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Full-time
Pay in the description: $150,000–$225,000
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 2,850 people in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 1,050–3,700
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $217,796 (middle half $177,469–$231,052). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
This role sits at the intersection of AI systems research and low-level kernel/hardware engineering, making SOC classification genuinely ambiguous. The primary mandate — building autonomous AI systems that generate and optimize production kernels — leans toward software development (15-1252), but the heavy ML/agent research component could support 15-2051 (Data Scientists). 15-1252 was chosen because shipping production-ready kernel implementations and experiment infrastructure is the core deliverable.
No specific years of experience are stated at the role level; seniority is inferred as Senior from the scope of ownership (end-to-end system, production impact, hardware-software roadmap partnership) and the depth of expertise implied across kernel engineering, AI agents, and hardware performance.
The posting lists no formal degree requirement and makes no mention of equivalent-experience substitution — degree is treated as not required.
The role is explicitly fully in-person at the San Jose (Santana Row) office; remote is not offered.
'Kernel experience' (writing/tuning kernels, understanding hardware performance) is listed under the primary 'you may be a good fit if you have' section with firm language and is treated as a hard gate. 'Low-level code' fluency is similarly gated.
LLM-based agents, RAG, fine-tuning/post-training, and multi-agent orchestration appear under 'Strong candidates may also have experience with' — a clearly secondary, preferred section.
The posting does not name specific kernel frameworks (e.g. CUDA, Triton) or specific agent frameworks (e.g. LangChain) by name; skills are captured at the level of specificity the JD provides.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): multi-agent orchestration.
Read the full posting
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