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Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Distributed vLLM Inference and Kubernetes

Red Hat
United StatesRemotefull_timeVerifiedPosted 16 Oct 2025
💰 $312,730/yr($189,600/yr$312,730/yr)

About the role

Job Summary

At Red Hat we believe the future of AI is open and we are on a mission to bring the power of open-source LLMs and vLLM to every enterprise. Red Hat Inference team accelerates AI for the enterprise and brings operational simplicity to GenAI deployments. As leading developers, maintainers of the vLLM project, and inventors of state-of-the-art techniques for model quantization and sparsification, our team provides a stable platform for enterprises to build, optimize, and scale LLM deployments.

As a Machine Learning Engineer focused on distributed vLLM infrastructure, you will collaborate with our team to tackle the most pressing challenges in scalable inference systems and Kubernetes-native deployments. Your work with distributed systems and cloud infrastructure will directly impact enterprise AI deployments. If you want to solve challenging technical problems in distributed systems and cloud-native infrastructure the open-source way, this is the role for you.


Join us in shaping the future of AI!

What you will do

  • Build and maintain distributed inference infrastructure using Kubernetes APIs, operators, and the Gateway Inference Extension API for scalable LLM deployments

  • Develop systems components in Go and/or Rust to integrate with the vLLM project and manage distributed inference workloads

  • Design and implement KV cache aware routing and scoring algorithms to optimize memory utilization and request distribution across large scale inference deployments

  • Improve the resource utilization, fault tolerance, and stability of the inference stack

  • Contribute to the design, development, and testing of various inference optimization algorithms

  • Participate in technical design discussions and provide innovative solutions to complex problems

  • Give thoughtful and prompt code reviews

  • Mentor and guide other engineers and foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation

What you will bring

  • Strong proficiency in Python and one or more system programming languages (Golang, Rust, C++)

  • Strong understanding of computer architecture, parallel processing, and distributed computing concepts

  • Experience with the Kubernetes ecosystem, including custom APIs, operators, and the Gateway API inference extension for GenAI workloads (nice to have)

  • Experience with cloud native Kubernetes service mesh technologies/stacks like Istio, Cillium, Envoy (WASM filters) and CNI

  • Experience with tensor math libraries such as PyTorch

  • Working understanding of high-performance networking protocols and technologies including UCX, RoCE, InfiniBand, and RDMA

  • Mathematical software, especially linear algebra or signal processing

  • Deep understanding and experience in GPU performance optimizations

  • Experience optimizing kernels for deep neural networks

  • Experience with profiling tools like NVIDIA Nsight or distributed tracing libraries/techniques like OpenTelemetry is a plus

  • Strong communications skills with both technical and non-technical team members

  • BS, or MS in computer science or computer engineering or a related field. A PhD in a ML related domain is considered a plus

The salary range for this position is $189,600.00 - $312,730.00. Actual offer will be based on your qualifications.

Pay Transparency

Red Hat determines compensation based on several factors including but not limited to job location, experience, applicable skills and training, external market value, and internal pay equity. Annual salary is one component of Red Hat’s compensation package. This position may also be eligible for bonus, commission, and/or equity. For positions with Remote-US locations, the actual salary range for the position may differ based on location but will be commensurate with job duties and relevant work experience. 

About Red Hat

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. S

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Company

Red Hat

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