AI Engineer, ML Inference Optimization, Tesla AI

Tesla•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

Tesla’s AI team is pushing the frontier of real-world machine learning, building models that reason, predict, and act with human-level physical intelligence. We train and deploy large-scale ML systems powering products from Autopilot to Optimus. As part of the Model Optimization group, you will work at the intersection of machine learning and systems, designing our most advanced models to run efficiently across Tesla’s diverse compute stack, from data centers to edge AI accelerators. You will design the model architecture and engineer algorithmic optimizations that make large-scale model inference fast, reliable, and hardware-aware.

Requirements

Proven experience in scaling and optimizing inference for large ML models, particularly transformers or similar architectures
Familiarity with quantization-aware training, model compression, and distillation for edge and real-time inference
Proficiency with Python and C++ (modern standards 14/17/20) and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX
Strong understanding of computer systems and architecture, with experience deploying ML models on GPUs, TPUs, or NPUs
Hands-on expertise with CUDA programming, low-level performance profiling, and compiler-level optimization (TensorRT, TVM, XLA)
Experience collaborating with compiler/hardware engineers to bridge model and system-level optimization
Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to debug and tune high-performance inference workloads

Responsibilities

Design, train, and deploy large neural networks that run efficiently on heterogeneous hardware (GPU, CPU, Tesla’s in-house AI ASIC)
Develop and integrate quantization, sparsity, pruning, and distillation techniques to improve inference performance
Design inference algorithms that improve inference performance in terms of quantization and latency
Profile and improve latency, throughput, and memory efficiency for large ML models across edge and cloud environments
Collaborate with compiler and hardware engineers to co-design architectures for efficient real-time inference
Design and implement custom GPU kernels (CUDA / OpenCL) to accelerate model operations and post-processing pipelines
Conduct systematic benchmarking, scaling, and validation of inference performance across Tesla platforms

Benefits

Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
Company Paid (Health Savings Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
Company paid Basic Life, AD&D
Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
Employee Assistance Program
Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly positions), and Paid Holidays
Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs
Tesla Babies program
Commuter benefits
Employee discounts and perks program