Six Figure Work

Machine learning engineer II, AWS Inference Optimization

Amazon

Company websiteamazon.com (Amazon, opens in new tab)

Base salary $165,200  to $223,600

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Santa Clara, CA

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  • LocationSanta Clara, CA
  • WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since

About this job

Amazon AI is looking for a machine learning engineer to be part of inference optimization team working on optimizing large language OSS models like Qwen, Gemma, gptoss, improving inference performance by development on inference stacks like vLLM, SGLAng, performance tuning of GenAI inference on Amazon Sagemaker, Bedrock and Hyperpod. Work includes implementation of inference optimization techniques like Speculative decoding, Disaggregated Inference and CUDA kernel tuning.

As part of the team, you will own price-performance of amazon LLM inference on Sagemaker, Hyperpod and Bedrock. You will be working in a fast-paced, cross-disciplinary team of engineers and researchers who are leaders in the field. You will take on challenging problems, distill real requirements, and then deliver solutions that either leverage existing academic and industrial research, or utilize your own out-of-the-box pragmatic thinking. In addition to coming up with novel solutions and prototypes, you will deliver these to production in customer facing products.

Inclusive Team Culture

Here at AWS, we embrace our differences. We are committed to furthering our culture of inclusion. We have ten employee-led affinity groups, reaching 40,000 employees in over 190 chapters globally. We have innovative benefit offerings, and host annual and ongoing learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon (gender diversity) conferences.

Work/Life Balance

Our team puts a high value on work-life balance. It isn’t about how many hours you spend at home or at work; it’s about the flow you establish that brings energy to both parts of your life. We believe striking the right balance between your personal and professional life is critical to life-long happiness and fulfillment. We offer flexibility in working hours and encourage you to find your own balance between your work and personal lives.

Mentorship & Career Growth

Our team is dedicated to supporting new members. We have a broad mix of experience levels and tenures, and we’re building an environment that celebrates knowledge sharing and mentorship. We care about your career growth and strive to assign projects based on what will help each team member develop into a better-rounded engineer and enable them to take on more complex tasks in the future.

Key job responsibilities

As a MLE in Inference Optimization team you will be responsible for the major portion of existing and/or new inference software. List of responsibilities includes but is not limited to developing model servers, developing CUDA kernels in vLLM, SGLang, developing services for GenAI optimization and benchmarking, creating and modifying a mid-size application, or service.

Basic Qualifications

  • 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
  • 2+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
  • 1+ years of software development engineer or related occupational experience
  • 1+ years of designing and developing large-scale, multi-tiered, multi-threaded, embedded or distributed software applications, tools, systems, and services using: C#, C++, Java, or Perl experience
  • Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
  • Knowledge of Machine Learning and LLM fundamentals, including transformer architecture, training/inference lifecycles, and optimization techniques

Preferred Qualifications

  • 3+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, CA, Santa Clara - 165,200.00 - 223,600.00 USD annually

Source: Amazon · View original posting (opens in new tab)

This range next to 6 other live Amazon roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live Amazon roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Machine learning engineer II, AWS Inference Optimization (this listing)$165,200 - $223,600
Software Development Engineer, Neuron Collectives, Annapurna Labs$165,200 - $223,600
Software Development Engineer -Control Plane, AWS Scalable Intent Driven Routing (SIDR)$165,200 - $223,600
Software Engineer II - AI/ML, Neuron Inference, Neuron Inference$165,200 - $223,600
Software Dev Engineer II - AMZ27744.1$165,200 - $223,600
Machine Learning Engineer, FAI$165,200 - $223,600
Software Development Engineer, AI/ML, AWS Neuron, Model Inference$165,200 - $223,600

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All Amazon roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
  2. First observed on the employer's board
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-10-24
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: US, CA, Santa Clara

USA, CA, Santa Clara - 165,200.00 - 223,600.00 USD annually

Method
Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.