---
title: 'Software Engineer, Inference Runtime at LM Studio'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-inference-runtime-lm-studio-new-york-4sp2mefb88j5'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Software Engineer, Inference Runtime at LM Studio

- **Company:** LM Studio
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-08-07
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/lm-studio/ba7b2c29-c2ad-4ad2-98f4-a8ba373b34e0

## Job description

LM Studio is used by millions of people around the world to run AI on their own computers, and now with Bionic - also in the cloud. Our values prioritize putting the human in the center, and creating tools that we want to use ourselves, and recommend to our friends and family. As a team, we work with high technical intensity and personal responsibility. We are looking for curious, self-motivated, creative, and technically excellent teammates to join us and build the future of human-AI interactions in software.

## The Role

We are looking for an Inference Runtime Software Engineer to push forward LM Studio's inference stack on-device and in the cloud. You will integrate new inference engines and runtime capabilities, bring up new open-weight models and modalities, and optimize model execution for a wide range of CPU and GPU targets. You will also contribute improvements to the open-source projects we build on.

## Qualifications

- Significant experience building production ML systems, inference runtimes, or performance-sensitive infrastructure
- Strong programming ability in Python and C++
- Deep understanding of transformer architectures and the mechanics of model inference
- Experience profiling CPU or GPU workloads and reasoning about compute, memory, synchronization, and data movement
- Experience with PyTorch and inference systems such as llama.cpp, MLX, ExecuTorch, vLLM, SGLang, or TensorRT-LLM
- Strong debugging instincts across model code, runtime internals, operating systems, and CPU or GPU execution
- Takes personal responsibility for the correctness and performance of their work

Bonus Qualifications

- Past contributions to open-source inference runtime projects such as llama.cpp, MLX, ExecuTorch, vLLM, SGLang, or TensorRT-LLM

## Responsibilities

- Maintain and push forward our inference stack on-device and in the cloud
- Bring up new model architectures and multimodal models
- Improve latency, throughput, memory use, and reliability across CPU, CUDA, Metal, Vulkan, and ROCm runtimes
- Build runtime capabilities for model loading, batching, scheduling, caching, and distributed execution
- Benchmark and diagnose correctness and performance problems across the inference stack
- Contribute upstream to open-source projects such as llama.cpp and MLX

## Benefits

- Competitive salary and equity grants
- Great medical, vision, dental healthcare plans
- Catered team lunch / expensed dinners in the office
- Flexible PTO
- Flexible WFH
- Sun-drenched office in SoHo in NYC

## About LM Studio

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: LM Studio provides a local AI toolkit that enables users to discover, download, and run open-source large language models (LLMs) on their own hardware, entirely offline.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Venture-backed, Unattributed VC)
- **Headquarters**: Brooklyn, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Yagil Burowski

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Artificial Intelligence / Developer Tools
- **Target customers**: B2B and B2C; individual developers, data scientists, and enterprises seeking private, local AI inference.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To make local AI models more accessible and allow users to run LLMs on their own hardware, privately and for free.

## Products & Services
- **LM Studio Desktop App**: The core product, a free desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux that allows users to discover, download, and run open-source LLMs locally. Features include chatting with documents, a built-in API server, and support for agentic tool calling. [lmstudio.ai](https://lmstudio.ai/)
- **LM Studio Enterprise**: A paid offering for organizations that need to deploy local AI at scale, with additional management and security features. [lmstudio.ai](https://lmstudio.ai/enterprise)
- **LM Link**: A service launched in partnership with Tailscale that allows users to access their local models remotely from anywhere, with end-to-end encryption. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)
- **SDKs & CLI**: Developer tools including `lmstudio-js` (JavaScript SDK), `lmstudio-python` (Python SDK), and `lms` (CLI) for integrating LM Studio into applications and workflows. [lmstudio.ai](https://lmstudio.ai/)
- **llmster (Headless Deployment)**: A no-GUI version of LM Studio's core for deploying on servers, cloud instances, or in CI/CD pipelines. [lmstudio.ai](https://lmstudio.ai/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$19.32M** raised as of a venture round in June 2025. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/lm-studio)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: FirstMark Capital, Matrix Partners, Torch Capital, Preston-Werner Ventures. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/lm-studio)
- **Growth Signals**: The company has grown headcount by **+100% YoY** to 12 employees. Website traffic has grown **+187.9% yearly**. The company has formed key partnerships with Tailscale (for LM Link) and was featured in Apple's M5 announcement. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Privacy-First Local Inference**: Unlike cloud-based AI services, LM Studio runs entirely on the user's hardware, ensuring data never leaves the machine. This is a critical differentiator for privacy-conscious enterprises and developers.
- **Broad Model Support**: Supports a wide range of open-source model formats (GGUF, MLX) and architectures, making it a versatile hub for the open-source LLM ecosystem.
- **Cross-Platform & Apple Silicon Optimization**: Deeply optimized for Apple Silicon (MLX) and NVIDIA GPUs (CUDA), providing strong performance on consumer hardware. The company was featured in Apple's M5 announcement. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)
- **Developer-First Ecosystem**: Offers a comprehensive suite of developer tools (SDKs, CLI, REST API) and supports industry standards like OpenAI's API format, making it easy to integrate into existing workflows.

## Strategic Focus
- **Headless & Enterprise Expansion**: The launch of `llmster` (headless deployment) and the Enterprise tier signals a push beyond individual developers into server and enterprise markets. [lmstudio.ai](https://lmstudio.ai/)
- **Remote Access & Networking**: The LM Link partnership with Tailscale aims to make local models accessible from anywhere, bridging the gap between local privacy and remote convenience. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)
- **Ecosystem & Partnerships**: Deepening integrations with major AI players (Google DeepMind, NVIDIA, OpenAI) and hardware partners (Apple, NVIDIA DGX) to remain the go-to local inference platform. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact, Small Team**: With only 12 employees, new hires will have significant ownership and influence over the product and direction. The team is growing rapidly (+100% YoY). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)
- **Cutting-Edge AI Work**: The engineering team works directly on the frontier of local AI, contributing to open-source projects like `llama.cpp`, `mlx-lm`, and `mlx-engine`. [lmstudio.ai](https://www.lmstudio.ai/careers)
- **Global & Remote-Friendly**: While headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, the company has team members in Uruguay and Turkey, suggesting a remote or hybrid-friendly culture. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)
- **Open Source Culture**: The company actively contributes to and builds on open-source AI infrastructure, making it an attractive place for engineers who value transparency and community.
- **Current Open Roles**: As of the latest data, LM Studio is hiring for a **Frontend Software Engineer** and a **Systems Engineer (C++)**, indicating a focus on both the user-facing app and the core AI runtime. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)

## Sources
1. [lmstudio.ai](https://lmstudio.ai/)
2. [lmstudio.ai/careers](https://www.lmstudio.ai/careers)
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/lm-studio)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lmstudio-ai)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/lm-studio)

## Other roles at LM Studio

- [Full Stack Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-software-engineer-lm-studio-new-york-hswhkeskpnen) — New York, NY
- [Software Engineer, Agent Harness](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-agent-harness-lm-studio-new-york-fjvw9gwp8djy) — New York, NY
- [GTM, Enterprise](https://feeny.ai/job/gtm-enterprise-lm-studio-new-york-g4p593zmzqbq) — New York, NY
- [Software Engineer, Application](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-application-lm-studio-new-york-nsj36x3yeen1) — New York, NY