Staff AI Researcher

NIO

About The Position

We are seeking exceptional AI researchers to join our team at the forefront of Large Language Model (LLM) and Vision-Language Model (VLM) research and turning the research into a production grade, deployable system. This role is ideal for graduating PhD students or recent PhDs with a strong research background and hands-on experience in LLM/VLM design, training, and inference optimization. You will be working on cutting-edge technologies that accelerate the performance, efficiency, and scalability of next-generation foundation models, especially in the context of real-world deployment on advanced computing platforms in electric vehicles (EVs). As part of our AIOS team, you will explore and invent new methods to improve LLM inference efficiency—ranging from architectural and system-level innovations, LLM compute optimization, and distributed/parallelized execution strategies, to low-level system and kernel-level optimizations. You will have the unique opportunity to conduct high-impact research while collaborating closely with engineering teams to bring your innovations into production systems powering SkyOS across multiple ECU domains. This role is highly interdisciplinary, bridging AI/ML research, systems design, and hardware-aware optimization, and offers the chance to shape the future of intelligent automotive systems.

Requirements

Master or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields.
Strong research and/or hands-on experience in LLMs/VLMs, including Transformer-based architectures and their optimizations.
Expertise in LLM inference acceleration techniques, such as kernel optimization, quantization, parallelism, and system-level optimization.
Solid understanding of GPU/NPU architectures, compiler stacks, and AI training/inference frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX).
Proficiency in programming with Python and/or C/C++, with experience in developing high-performance and scalable software systems.
Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, publish in top venues, and work across interdisciplinary teams.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical ideas clearly.

Nice To Haves

Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields (or Ph.D. candidate expecting graduation within 6–12 months).
Strong track record of publications in AI/ML conferences or journals (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, MLSys, ASPLOS).
Experience with hardware-aware AI model optimization, such as custom CUDA kernels, NPU programming, or compiler/toolchain development.
Background in distributed training/inference, large-scale system optimization, or embedded/edge AI.
Familiarity with operating system concepts, computer architecture concepts, and software-hardware co-design.
Passion for applying AI research to real-world domains such as automotive, robotics, or edge intelligence.

Responsibilities

Conduct original applied research on LLM/VLM model architectures, inference acceleration methods, and system-level optimizations.
Architect and prototype cutting-edge techniques for model architecture and inference acceleration, parallelization, custom kernels, and hardware-software co-design.
Lead proof-of-concept implementations to evaluate tradeoffs in functionality, latency, throughput, and reliability.
Collaborate with system and hardware engineers to translate research insights into scalable, high-performance production systems.
Define the research and technology roadmap for AIOS solutions in the context of model deployment across EV domains.
Track industry and academic advances in LLM/VLM, and contribute to the organization’s research leadership through publications, patents, and participation in the research community.

Benefits

CIGNA EPO, HSA, and Kaiser HMO medical plans with $0 for Employee Only Coverage.
Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plan. Both provide options with a $0 paycheck contribution covering you and your eligible dependents.
Company Paid HSA (Health Savings Account) Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible CIGNA medical plan
Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) with Brokerage Link option
Company paid Basic Life, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance
Employee Assistance Program
Sick and Vacation time
13 Paid Holidays a year
Paid Parental Leave for first 8 weeks at full pay (eligible after 90 days of employment with NIO)
Paid Disability Leave for first 6 weeks at full pay (eligible after 90 days of employment with NIO)
Voluntary benefits including: Voluntary Life and AD&D options for you, your spouse/domestic partner and dependent child(ren), pet insurance
Commuter benefits
Mobile Cell Phone Credit
Healthjoy mobile benefit app supporting you and your dependents with benefit questions on the go & support with benefit billing questions
Free lunch and snacks
Onsite gym
Employee discounts and perks program