NKI Kernel Optimization Specialist

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

Position: Trainium (NKI) Kernel Expert
Type: Contract
Compensation: $70–$90/hour
Location: Remote

Role Responsibilities

• Evaluate the quality, correctness, and hardware-appropriateness of Neuron Kernel Interface (NKI) development tasks for training and evaluating AI models.
• Assess CUDA→NKI migration fidelity and Trainium-specific performance-optimization quality.
• Review cross-platform numerical-correctness standards and provide clear, rubric-based feedback.
• Collaborate with AI research teams to ensure consistency and coverage across datasets.
• Work independently and asynchronously to improve AI model performance.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• 2+ years of experience developing or optimizing kernels using NKI targeting AWS Trainium/Inferentia2 hardware.
• Strong understanding of NKI-specific development patterns and memory-hierarchy management.
• Experience assessing CUDA→NKI migration quality.
• Familiarity with Trainium-specific performance profiling.
• Experience defining or evaluating cross-platform numerical-correctness standards.

Preferred

• Experience with AWS Neuron SDK, Neuron Compiler internals, or contributions to NKI kernel libraries.
• Prior CUDA or Triton kernel development.
• Familiarity with Trainium hardware specifications.
• Experience benchmarking ML training workloads on Trn1/Trn2 instances.

Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete)

• Upload resume
• AI interview based on your resume
• Submit form

Resources & Support

• For details about the interview process and platform information, please check: https://talent.docs.mercor.com/welcome
• For any help or support, reach out to: support@mercor.com

PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity.