Principal Software Engineer, SDK & Lowering Stack
D Matrix
Santa Clara, CA · $190k–$300k a year · Posted July 31, 2026
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Pay compared with the market
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About the job
Join d-Matrix and help build the future of AI inference. We’ve pioneered a memory-centric architecture that brings compute directly into memory, making AI faster, more energy efficient, and accessible on a global scale. From chips and software to rack-scale systems, our team is tackling some of AI infrastructure’s hardest challenges — and shipping breakthrough technology today. If you want to create what comes next and help make infinite inference possible, we’d love to hear from you.
Our culture is built on respect, collaboration, and direct communication. We value humility, we believe our different perspectives lead to better solutions, and we’re looking for people who are driven by execution and energized by hard problems.
LOCATION:
Santa Clara, CA, headquarters, but open to other locations within the US/Canada.
The role: Principal Software Engineer, SDK & Lowering Stack
What you will do:
- Help architect and develop the kernel authoring SDK that targets our novel Corsair dataflow architecture.
- Champion software engineering best practices across the team by establishing robust CI/CD pipelines, driving automated testing, and enforcing rigorous code review processes.
- Build intuitive, domain-specific APIs, determining the optimal boundaries for kernel developers and compiler teams.
- Create development tools to be used in kernel authoring and modeling lowering flows.
- Lead and mentor junior engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and collaborative problem-solving.
- Leverage systems engineering ability to understand complex interactions between hardware and software components, proposing and implementing solutions integral to the software stack.
- Take ownership of delivering solutions by interacting with stakeholders, generating requirements, documenting designs, implementing, debugging, and deploying.
- Build and scale software deliverables in a tight development window.
Minimum experience:
- MS in Computer Engineering, Math, Physics, or a related degree with 8 years of industry experience or a PhD in Computer Engineering, Math, Physics, or a related degree with 4 years of industry experience.
- Proficient in C/C++ and Python development in a Linux environment and using standard development tools.
- Proven track record of driving software engineering best practices, including CI/CD integration, continuous testing, and leading comprehensive code reviews.
- Deep grasp of computer architecture, data structures, system software, and machine learning fundamentals.
- Demonstrated experience designing high-quality, scalable APIs and SDKs, with a comprehensive systems engineering mindset to solve end-to-end problems.
- Self-motivated team player with a profound sense of ownership and leadership.
Preferred experience:
- Proven experience writing and optimizing high-performance kernels targeting GPUs, TPUs, or custom ML accelerators.
- Background working in High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments, managing large-scale distributed workloads and resource optimization.
- Experience developing ML compilers and working with intermediate representations or algorithms (e.g., MLIR, LLVM, TVM, Glow, etc.).
- Familiarity with leveraging AI-assisted coding tools to accelerate software development and elevate code quality.
- Prior startup, small team, or incubation experience.
- Work experience at a cloud provider or AI compute/subsystem company.
Equal Opportunity Employment Policy
d-Matrix is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and affirmative action employer. We’re committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcomed and empowered to do their best work. We hire the best talent for our teams, regardless of race, religion, color, age, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, or veteran status. Our focus is on hiring teammates with humble expertise, kindness, dedication, and a willingness to embrace challenges and learn together every day.
d-Matrix does not accept resumes or candidate submissions from external agencies. We appreciate the interest and effort of recruitment firms, but we kindly request that individuals interested in opportunities with d-Matrix apply directly through our official channels. This approach allows us to streamline our hiring processes and maintain a consistent and fair evaluation of all applicants. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.