---
title: 'Inference Optimization Manager at Modular'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/inference-optimization-manager-modular-united-states-canada-9910s7qpd0fy'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Inference Optimization Manager at Modular

- **Company:** Modular
- **Location:** United States / Canada
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-06-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/modular/am9icG9zdDof2wqh51asrICvbEH2f4vB

## Job description

About the role:

At Modular, we optimize inference from kernel to cloud on one unified stack. We are building a differentiated cloud platform that delivers state of the art inference performance from day one, then keeps getting better. As we learn the shape and patterns of each customer's workload, the platform adapts and improves performance automatically over time.

The Performance Labs team builds the infrastructure that makes this possible at scale. We continuously apply the latest optimizations across kernels, the inference engine, and distributed systems so that customer workloads stay on the Pareto frontier of cost and performance. We get there through deep workload insights, a scalable platform, and close collaboration with engineering and product teams.

In this role you will lead a high impact team that partners closely with GTM, Product, and Engineering to redefine what an inference platform can be. You will turn real customer workloads into a continuous optimization loop, shape the product direction of Modular Cloud, and build the systems that let performance scale with demand.

LOCATION: Candidates based in the US or Canada are welcome to apply. You can work in our office in Los Altos, CA or remotely from home. Onboarding for new hires is conducted in-person in our Los Altos, CA office.

What you will do:

- Lead the team that builds the optimization platform driving LLM inference on Modular Cloud to state of the art performance across the latest GPU and ASIC architectures.
- Own the technical direction of Modular Cloud, delivering LLM performance on the Pareto frontier for agentic use cases and keeping it there as the landscape evolves.
- Partner closely with the GTM team to deliver highly customized LLM inference tuned to specific customer workloads, and collaborate across engineering to drive optimizations spanning the full stack, from GPU kernels to cloud infrastructure. Translate insights from customer engagements into a clear technical roadmap that engineering teams can execute against.
- Grow and develop a high impact team, set priorities, and create the conditions for engineers to do their best work on hard performance problems.
- Champion the team externally through blog posts on innovative approaches to LLM inference optimization that shape industry wide best practices.

What you bring to the table:

- 5+ years in distributed systems or performance engineering, including experience leading or managing engineering teams.
- A track record of shipping durable, reusable software tools and libraries adopted across teams and functions, and of guiding a team to do the same.
- Sound judgment in evaluating technical tradeoffs and setting priorities, paired with strong communication and technical leadership skills.
- The ability to translate ambiguous customer and product needs into focused engineering direction.
- Creativity and curiosity in solving complex problems, a collaborative and team oriented mindset, and alignment with our culture.

Helpful, but not required:

- Hands on background in GPU kernel programming, inference engine internals, or distributed inference architectures.
- Experience with Kubernetes and cloud native ecosystems.
- Familiarity with modern LLM architectures and the latest inference optimization techniques.

What Modular brings to the table:

- Amazing Team. We are a progressive and agile team with some of the industry’s best engineering and product leaders.
- World-class Benefits. In order to attract the best, we need to offer the best. Your benefits package may include comprehensive healthcare coverage, retirement and savings programs, employee stock purchase opportunities, paid time off, wellbeing resources, family support programs, and learning and development opportunities. Please note that specific benefit packages may vary based on your location, you can read more about [benefits offered by Qualcomm here](https://www.qualcomm.com/company/careers/benefits).
- Competitive Compensation. We offer very strong compensation packages, including RSU grants. We want people to be focused on their best work and believe in tailoring compensation plans to meet the needs of our workforce.
- Team Building Events. We organize regular team onsites and local meetups in Los Altos, CA as well as different cities. Traveling 2-4 times a year is expected for all roles.

Working at Modular will enable you to grow quickly as you work alongside incredibly motivated and talented people who have high standards, possess a growth mindset, and a purpose to truly change the world.

The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in the US, regardless of the state, is $234,000.00 - $286,000.00 USD. The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in Canada, regardless of the province, is $229,000.00 - $280,000.00 CAD.

The salary for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of permissible, non-discriminatory job-related factors, which include but are not limited to education, training, work experience, business needs, or market demands. This range may be modified in the future. The total compensation for a candidate will also include annual target bonus, equity, and benefits, with equity making up a significant portion of your total compensation. For candidates who fall outside of the listed requirements, we nevertheless encourage you to apply as we may have upcoming openings that are lower/higher level than the ones advertised.

## About Modular

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Modular builds a unified, high-performance AI inference platform that enables developers to run AI workloads efficiently across any hardware.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Acquired by Qualcomm in July 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Los Altos, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Chris Lattner and Tim Davis

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: AI Infrastructure, Deep Learning, Software Development
- **Target customers**: AI/ML engineers, data scientists, and enterprises deploying large-scale AI models (B2B, Enterprise)
- **Mission statement**: "Make AI’s compute layer unified, efficient, and accessible to all."

## Products & Services
- **Modular Platform (MAX)**: A unified AI inference platform offering text, audio, and image inference. It provides state-of-the-art performance with shared or dedicated endpoints, deployment in Modular's cloud or the customer's VPC, and support for custom models. It includes a high-performance, hardware-agnostic serving framework that automatically optimizes kernels across accelerators.
- **Mojo**: A high-performance systems language designed for writing composable GPU kernels, enabling maximum performance across different hardware.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (acquired by Qualcomm). Total funding raised was $380M.
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $380M, with an annual revenue of $1M as of the latest data.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: General Catalyst (lead, Series B), Google Ventures (lead, Seed), US Innovative Technology Fund (lead, Series C).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew by 39.9% year-over-year to 157 employees. The company was acquired by Qualcomm in July 2026, signaling a major strategic validation and exit. It maintains a strong technical workforce (110 out of 157 employees are in technical roles).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Hardware Agnosticism**: The platform runs seamlessly across NVIDIA, AMD, Trainium, TPU, Qualcomm, Intel, ARM, and Apple silicon, providing true portability and preventing vendor lock-in.
- **Full-Stack Optimization**: Optimizes from low-level GPU kernels to API endpoints, delivering significant performance gains (e.g., 2x improvement over vLLM on diverse hardware) and up to 50% cost savings.
- **Founding Team**: Led by Chris Lattner (creator of LLVM, Clang, and Swift) and Tim Davis, with decades of experience building AI infrastructure at Google and other big tech companies.

## Strategic Focus
- **Unifying AI Compute**: The company’s core mission is to solve the fragmentation in AI infrastructure by creating a modular and composable platform.
- **Open Source & Ecosystem**: Modular is open-sourcing the Mojo language and the MAX engine to drive adoption and build a community.
- **Post-Acquisition Integration**: Following the acquisition by Qualcomm, the strategic focus will likely shift towards integrating its technology into Qualcomm’s hardware ecosystem and scaling its deployment to edge and mobile devices.

## Why Work Here
- **Cutting-Edge Technology**: Employees work on building deep learning infrastructure from silicon to system, offering full-stack mastery of the AI software/hardware stack.
- **Strong Compensation & Benefits**: Offers leading medical, dental, and vision insurance, strong compensation and equity packages, a 401k plan with up to 5% match, generous parental leave, unlimited paid time off, and a $1,500 work-from-home stipend.
- **Culture**: Described as intellectually curious, humble, and collaborative. The company values work/life balance and offers flexible work hours and hybrid work options.
- **High Employee Ratings**: On LinkedIn, the company has a 4.3/5.0 employer rating, with perfect 5.0 scores for Culture and Career, and 4.6 for Work-Life and Compensation.
- **Onboarding & Process**: Onboarding occurs onsite at the Los Altos office. The interview process is straightforward, generally taking about 4 weeks, and includes a culture interview.

## Sources
1. [Modular Careers Page](https://www.modular.com/company/careers)
2. [Modular About Us](https://www.modular.com/company/about)
3. [Modular Website](https://www.modular.com/)
4. [Modular LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/modular-ai)
5. [Modular Careers on Gem](https://jobs.gem.com/modular)

## Other roles at Modular

- [Developer Advocate, MAX Inference & Serving](https://feeny.ai/job/developer-advocate-max-inference-serving-modular-united-states-canada-s1r9bnna72jz) — United States / Canada
- [Senior Open Source Community Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-open-source-community-engineer-modular-united-states-canada-4mtpdvn8xgw9) — United States / Canada
- [Developer Advocate, Mojo](https://feeny.ai/job/developer-advocate-mojo-modular-united-states-canada-hgq4cjnkdxh8) — United States / Canada
- [AI Inference Tools Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-inference-tools-engineer-modular-united-states-8sk0kdjq8g93) — United States
- [Inference Optimization Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/inference-optimization-engineer-modular-united-states-canada-h70h6szsvg8e) — United States / Canada
- [Product Manager, Cloud](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-cloud-modular-united-states-canada-9ks8p0xdqtk4) — United States / Canada
- [Senior AI Kernel Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ai-kernel-engineer-modular-united-states-canada-crsvzs19n2q8) — United States / Canada
- [Cloud Inference Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/cloud-inference-engineer-modular-united-states-canada-nnas25s7s2g3) — United States / Canada