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Applied Researcher – AI Expert

designworkstalentBellevueEngineering
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Salary
Not listed
Job type
Full-time
Work mode
Remote
Experience
Senior
Posted
19 Sept 2026
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

This Applied Researcher position suits an experienced artificial intelligence professional who wants to shape AI model strategies, infrastructure decisions, and inference optimization within a hybrid setup in Bellevue, Washington. The role involves evaluating emerging technologies, tracking academic research, and guiding cross-functional teams on AI scalability, token economics, and multi-silicon portability.

Role Overview

designworkstalent is seeking an experienced Applied Researcher to operate as an individual contributor in a hybrid work environment based in downtown Bellevue, WA. The professional in this position will bridge AI research, systems engineering, and infrastructure strategy to help leadership determine which technologies to build, buy, or adopt. Candidates must be willing to work in the office approximately three days per week, and those located elsewhere in the U.S. who are open to relocation are encouraged to apply. The role requires U.S. work authorization and may involve up to 25% international travel to data centers and co-locations.

Key Responsibilities

Track lab and academic research, model releases, open-source projects, and vendor roadmaps across inference optimization, serving, routing, compilers, post-training, agents, and security.
Formulate and validate product and engineering theses regarding routing, serving, and runtimes, pressure-tested against measured cost per token and output quality.
Own the technical position on inference, covering quantization, speculative decoding, KV-cache management, batching, prefill/decode disaggregation, and long-context serving.
Drive multi-silicon portability to ensure models run efficiently across NVIDIA, AMD, and Cerebras ecosystems.
Build and maintain the token economics model, evaluating cost per million tokens continuously across models, silicon types, and traffic profiles.
Support commercial operations by collaborating with product, go-to-market, and sales teams on model fit, customer discussions, and partner due diligence.

Requirements

Significant hands-on experience working with modern AI models, machine learning, and AI architectures.
Deep practical expertise focused on inference rather than training alone.
Working fluency in one or more accelerator ecosystems alongside a realistic view of portability costs.
Hands-on depth at the compiler, kernel, or runtime layer such as CUDA, Triton, ROCm/HIP, or XLA.
Strong analytical, communication, and influencing skills to collaborate across engineering, research, and infrastructure groups.
Ability to read technical papers and translate research concepts into practical engineering implications.
U.S. work authorization.

Nice to Have

Depth in a specific kernel or runtime domain such as attention kernels, collective libraries, memory allocators, or graph compilers.
Background at a hyperscaler, neocloud, or AI lab operating inference infrastructure at production scale.
Familiarity with distributed training frameworks like PyTorch Distributed, DeepSpeed, or Megatron.
Experience with agentic frameworks, tool-use protocols, or multi-agent orchestration.
Publications, patents, or a recognized external presence in the AI research or systems community.

Skills and Tools

CUDA
Triton
ROCm/HIP
XLA
vLLM
SGLang
TensorRT-LLM
PyTorch Distributed
DeepSpeed
Megatron
NVIDIA
AMD
Cerebras

About the Company

designworkstalent is a fast-growing technology organization operating in downtown Bellevue, Washington, that focuses on advancing AI infrastructure, model serving, and accelerator systems.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply directly on the official company careers page.

Skills and tech stack

CUDATritonROCm/HIPXLAvLLMSGLangTensorRT-LLMPyTorch DistributedDeepSpeedMegatronNVIDIAAMDCerebrasPyTorchLLMMachine Learning

Questions candidates ask

Where is this job located?

This is a hybrid role based in downtown Bellevue, WA, requiring approximately three days per week in the office. Candidates elsewhere in the U.S. who are open to relocation are also encouraged to apply.

Is visa sponsorship available for this position?

No, visa sponsorship is not currently available, and U.S. work authorization is required.

What is the primary focus of the role regarding AI?

The role places a heavy emphasis on inference optimization, token economics, multi-silicon portability, and serving stacks rather than training alone.

Will this position require travel?

Yes, the role involves a willingness and ability to travel internationally to data centers and co-locations as needed, up to 25% of the time.

What level of experience is required?

The posting specifies an experienced AI Expert / Applied Researcher who can operate as a strategic individual contributor with high ownership in a lean, early-stage team.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official designworkstalent careers page.

Apply on company site