Senior Staff Software Engineer, ML Inference (L5)

Cognitiv•Bellevue, WA

1d•$260,000 - $320,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Are you ready to revolutionize the advertising industry? At Cognitiv, we are not just another AdTech company—we are industry trailblazers redefining media buying with our Deep Learning Advertising Platform. Since 2015, we have harnessed the power of cutting-edge deep learning technology and data science to transform how brands connect with their customers. Our mission? To bring intelligence to advertising and deliver unparalleled precision, relevance, and impact at scale. With our innovative platform, advertisers enjoy unprecedented flexibility—whether it is activating Dynamic Deals through their preferred DSP, leveraging our managed service DSP, or utilizing our industry-first ContextGPT product. As a part of Cognitiv, you will be at the forefront of AI-driven advertising solutions, driving change and achieving remarkable growth in a rapidly evolving industry. Now, we’re growing! The Role We are searching for one of the absolute best ML inference engineers in the industry—someone excited to architect and scale a cutting-edge inference system that becomes the backbone of Cognitiv’s ML-driven products. In this role, you will define what inference means to Cognitiv and lead the cross-organizational effort to bring that vision to life. You’ll build performance-critical systems powering real-time decision-making for some of the world’s biggest brands, while helping shape the future of AI in AdTech. This role is foundational. It is high-impact. And it is a rare opportunity to build both the system and the team around one of the most strategic technical pillars in the company.

Requirements

Expert in PyTorch/LibTorch: 4+ years of experience with modern PyTorch/LibTorch and awareness of the latest ecosystem innovations.
Skilled in Neural Network Optimization: 4+ years optimizing models through quantization, parallelism, tiling, and related techniques.
Strong C++ Engineer: 4+ years programming in C++17 or later, with deep knowledge of performance and memory considerations.
Clear, Influential Communicator: Able to shape organization-wide technical narratives and drive alignment across teams.
End-to-End Owner: Comfortable owning services through the full development lifecycle, from design to release.
Technically Educated: Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, Physics, or a related field.

Nice To Haves

Experience with GPU/hardware acceleration for inference (e.g., NVIDIA TensorRT)
Experience with containers (Docker, Kubernetes)
Familiarity with Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Ansible)
Experience with advanced ML architectures (two-tower models, teacher-student learning)
Experience with Rust
Experience with MLOps systems (monitoring, lifecycle management, automation)
Experience using AI-driven development tools (AI code assistants, AI code review)

Responsibilities

Build and Optimize Inference Systems: Implement and optimize large-scale ML inference systems using both industry-standard frameworks and in-house technologies.
Lead Cross-Team Technical Initiatives: Drive major organization-wide technical programs that advance Cognitiv’s ML inference capabilities.
Evaluate and Advance ML Breakthroughs: Identify emerging ML inference technologies and partner with Product to build business cases for new capabilities.
Deliver Production-Grade ML Solutions: Collaborate with Engineering, Research, and Product to design and integrate high-performing ML solutions into production systems.
Raise the Engineering Bar: Mentor engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and pair programming to elevate technical quality.
Set Engineering Standards: Define and automate best-in-class standards for coding, testing, observability, and security across inference systems.
Own the Full Development Lifecycle: Take end-to-end ownership of services including planning, design, execution, testing, and release.

Benefits

Medical, dental & vision coverage (some plans 100% employer-paid)
12 weeks paid parental leave
Unlimited PTO + Work-From-Anywhere August
Career development with clear advancement paths
Equity for all employees
Hybrid work model & daily team lunch
Health & wellness stipend + cell phone reimbursement
401(k) with employer match
Parking (CA & WA offices) & pre-tax commuter benefits
Employee Assistance Program
Comprehensive onboarding (Cognitiv University)
Festiv – We make work fun with cross-team games, events, and creative team bonding.
Responsiv – You’ll be close to clients and leadership, influencing real outcomes.
Inclusiv – Diversity and individuality are celebrated across all levels.
Inventiv – We reward curiosity and embrace bold ideas.
Transformativ – We support your growth with training, mentorship, and flexibility.
Collaborativ – We operate across coasts, connected by purpose and teamwork.