---
title: 'Low-Level Software Engineer, LLK at Tenstorrent'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/low-level-software-engineer-llk-tenstorrent-toronto-znk30ny32zpf'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Low-Level Software Engineer, LLK at Tenstorrent

- **Company:** Tenstorrent
- **Location:** Toronto, Canada
- **Posted:** 2026-10-07
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/tenstorrent/jobs/5260226007

## Job description

Tenstorrent is leading the industry on cutting-edge AI technology, revolutionizing performance expectations, ease of use, and cost efficiency. With AI redefining the computing paradigm, solutions must evolve to unify innovations in software models, compilers, platforms, networking, and semiconductors. Our diverse team of technologists have developed a high performance RISC-V CPU from scratch, and share a passion for AI and a deep desire to build the best AI platform possible. We value collaboration, curiosity, and a commitment to solving hard problems. We are growing our team and looking for contributors of all seniorities.

As a Low-Level Software Engineer on Tenstorrent’s Low-Level Kernel (LLK) team, you’ll work at the intersection of software and AI hardware to build the primitives that power our workloads.

LLKs sit directly on top of the ISA of Tenstorrent’s AI hardware and form the foundation for the software stack above them. You’ll tackle challenging problems in low-level programming, hardware-aware optimization, and performance engineering, with the opportunity to influence how our hardware is programmed and how efficiently AI workloads run. Improvements at this layer can have an outsized impact across the entire stack.

You’ll take ownership of complex technical problems from design through implementation and optimization, while working closely with engineers across LLK, hardware, runtime, and operations.

This role is hybrid, based out of Toronto, Canada.

We welcome candidates at various experience levels for this role. During the interview process, candidates will be assessed for the appropriate level, and offers will align with that level, which may differ from the one in this posting.

## Who You Are

- Strong C/C++ engineer with significant experience building low-level, performance-critical software.
- Deep understanding of computer architecture and how software maps to hardware.
- Strong problem solver who can investigate complex performance and systems challenges and drive them to resolution.
- Comfortable working close to the hardware and making informed tradeoffs between performance, correctness, and maintainability.
- Effective technical collaborator who can work across software and hardware teams and influence technical decisions

## What We Need

- Design and implement low-level kernels and software primitives that expose the capabilities of Tenstorrent AI hardware.
- Own complex performance optimization efforts, from profiling and identifying bottlenecks through implementation and validation.
- Develop software that enables efficient model bring-up and execution across Tenstorrent hardware.
- Partner with LLK subteams across performance, tools, compute, and architecture bring-up, as well as hardware and runtime teams.
- Drive improvements to the quality, performance, and capabilities of the low-level software stack.

## What You Will Learn

- How to program and optimize software for custom AI hardware at the lowest levels of the stack.
- How hardware architecture, instruction sets, and low-level kernels come together to enable AI workloads.
- Advanced approaches to performance analysis, hardware-aware optimization, and debugging.
- How low-level software decisions influence performance across the broader AI software stack.
- How to solve complex problems spanning hardware, kernels, runtime, and higher-level software.

Compensation for all engineers at Tenstorrent ranges from $100k - $500k including base and variable compensation targets. Experience, skills, education, background and location all impact the actual offer made.

Tenstorrent offers a highly competitive compensation package and benefits, and we are an equal opportunity employer. This offer of employment is contingent upon the applicant being eligible to access U.S. export-controlled technology.  Due to U.S. export laws, including those codified in the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Company is required to ensure compliance with these laws when transferring technology to nationals of certain countries (such as EAR Country Groups D:1, E1, and E2).   These requirements apply to persons located in the U.S. and all countries outside the U.S.  As the position offered will have direct and/or indirect access to information, systems, or technologies subject to these laws, the offer may be contingent upon your citizenship/permanent residency status or ability to obtain prior license approval from the U.S. Commerce Department or applicable federal agency.  If employment is not possible due to U.S. export laws, any offer of employment will be rescinded.

## About Tenstorrent

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Tenstorrent develops open-source AI hardware and software, including its proprietary Tensix processor architecture and AI accelerators, to provide transparent, modifiable, and performant computing solutions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D)
- **Headquarters**: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Ljubisa Bajic, Ivan Hamer, Milos Trajkovic

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Artificial Intelligence Hardware & Software, Semiconductors, Computing Infrastructure
- **Target customers**: Hyperscalers, enterprises, governments (seeking sovereign AI), AI developers, and researchers (B2B focus with a strong developer community)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Build an Open Future with Us." The company is committed to building an open, affordable, transparent, and modifiable future for AI computing.

## Products & Services
- **Tensix Processor**: The core AI processing unit, a proprietary, high-performance architecture that serves as the foundation for Tenstorrent’s AI accelerators.
- **TT-Forge™**: An MLIR-based open-source AI compiler (public beta) designed to work with PyTorch, JAX, and ONNX, enabling developers to compile and optimize models for Tenstorrent hardware.
- **TT-Metalium**: A low-level software stack and kernel development environment for maximizing hardware performance.
- **AI Servers & Systems**: Sovereign, scale-out servers for production AI workloads, designed for high performance and flexibility without vendor lock-in.
- **Flexible IP for Specific Workloads**: Customizable intellectual property for customers who need tailored silicon solutions.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: $2.6 billion (Post-money valuation as of Series D, December 2, 2024) [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $1.18 billion raised over 10 rounds.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Fidelity Investments, Real Ventures, Samsung Securities, and 27 other institutional investors. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
- **Growth Signals**: 
    - Headcount of 1,220 as of May 31, 2026, indicating significant scaling. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
    - Led by legendary chip architect Jim Keller (CEO), signaling deep technical credibility and industry pull. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/vision)
    - Aggressive global expansion with offices in North America (Toronto, Austin, Santa Clara, Boston, Fort Collins), Europe (Warsaw, Munich, Belgrade, Gdansk), and Asia (Tokyo, Bengaluru, Pangyo).
    - Active open-source community with a public bounty program, developer forums, and a public beta of TT-Forge.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Open-Source First Philosophy**: Unlike most AI chip competitors (e.g., NVIDIA, Groq, Cerebras), Tenstorrent commits to transparent IP, open architectures, and open-source software, allowing customers to edit, fork, and own their silicon future. This directly counters vendor lock-in.
- **Legendary Leadership**: CEO Jim Keller’s track record (Apple A4/A5, AMD Zen, Tesla Autopilot chip, Intel) is a massive talent magnet and a strong signal of technical execution capability. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/vision)
- **Full-Stack Ownership**: Tenstorrent designs its own silicon (Tensix), builds its own systems, and develops the entire software stack (compiler, kernel, models), ensuring deep hardware-software co-optimization.
- **RISC-V Architecture**: The company is deeply invested in the open RISC-V instruction set architecture, positioning itself within a rapidly growing ecosystem that offers flexibility and freedom from proprietary ISAs like ARM and x86. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/careers)

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling Global Engineering**: Rapidly hiring across hardware (SoC, Physical Design, AI Hardware), software (Kernel, Compiler, Infrastructure), and operations in multiple countries.
- **Building the Developer Ecosystem**: Growing the open-source community around TT-Forge and TT-Metalium to drive adoption and create a moat of developer tools and libraries.
- **Sovereign AI**: Targeting governments and large enterprises that want to build their own AI infrastructure without relying on a single vendor, aligning with geopolitical trends toward AI independence.
- **Production Deployments**: Moving from R&D to large-scale server deployments for production AI workloads.

## Why Work Here
- **Innovate at the Cutting Edge**: Work on the full stack of AI computing—from silicon architecture and RTL design to open-source compilers and large-scale systems—alongside world-class engineers.
- **Learn from the Best**: The company emphasizes a culture of learning; they look for "curious and collaborative contributors" and state, "Come with the right mindset, we can help with the rest." [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/careers)
- **Open-Source Impact**: Engineers can contribute to and shape open-source projects that will be used by the global AI community, with a public bounty program that pays for contributions. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en)
- **Global and Flexible**: With offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, there are opportunities for relocation or local hiring in major tech hubs.
- **Compelling Mission**: The chance to "build an open future" and directly challenge the dominant players in AI hardware (NVIDIA) is a powerful motivator for engineers who value technical freedom and impact.

## Sources
1. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en)
2. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/careers)
3. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/vision)
4. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
5. [job-boards.greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/tenstorrent)

## Other roles at Tenstorrent

- [Executive Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-tenstorrent-bengaluru-1a0nw7w1pk87) — Bengaluru, India
- [Field Application Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/field-application-engineer-tenstorrent-japan-wxh6y5xsqhh5) — Japan
- [Sr. Engineer, Silicon Development Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-engineer-silicon-development-infrastructure-tenstorrent-austin-j1sqpb263fsx) — Austin, TX / Santa Clara, CA
- [Technical Program Manager, Platform & Runtime Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-platform-runtime-engineering-tenstorrent-austin-jrej7k1wae60) — Austin, TX / Santa Clara, CA / Toronto, Canada
- [Senior Compiler Engineer, AI IP](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-compiler-engineer-ai-ip-tenstorrent-belgrade-j5yt0nb43vbt) — Belgrade, Serbia
- [Sr. Staff Engineer, IP Runtime](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-staff-engineer-ip-runtime-tenstorrent-austin-je8y0rbk98wr) — Austin, TX / Toronto, Canada
- [ATE Test Development Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ate-test-development-engineer-tenstorrent-austin-qd6tqxbq6bjm) — Austin, TX / Fort Collins, CO / Santa Clara, CA
- [Solution Architect/ Field Application Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/solution-architect-field-application-engineer-tenstorrent-india-nrdjt918g156) — India
- [IP Customer Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/ip-customer-program-manager-tenstorrent-santa-clara-ap06mvmfex80) — Santa Clara, CA
- [Datacenter & Agentic AI Workload Performance Optimization Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/datacenter-agentic-ai-workload-performance-optimization-engineer-tenstorrent-3q2ntpah41vf) — Santa Clara, CA / Toronto, Canada