Software Engineer, Acceleration Kernel Development

Tenstorrent is leading the industry on cutting-edge AI technology, revolutionizing performance expectations, ease of use, and cost efficiency. With AI redefining the computing paradigm, solutions must evolve to unify innovations in software models, compilers, platforms, networking, and semiconductors. Our diverse team of technologists have developed a high performance RISC-V CPU from scratch, and share a passion for AI and a deep desire to build the best AI platform possible. We value collaboration, curiosity, and a commitment to solving hard problems. We are growing our team and looking for contributors of all seniorities.

As a Software Engineer on the Acceleration Kernel Development team at Tenstorrent, you’ll work at the intersection of software and hardware performance. You’ll be writing low-level code that directly powers high-efficiency machine learning workloads, optimizing every cycle, every memory move, every instruction. If you're motivated by performance, precision, and real impact, this is where your skills will shine.

This role is hybrid, based out of Santa Clara, CA or Toronto, ON.

We welcome candidates at various experience levels for this role. During the interview process, candidates will be assessed for the appropriate level, and offers will align with that level, which may differ from the one in this posting.

Who You Are

• A developer who loves high performance code, parallel algorithms, wrangling bits, optimizing compute, and making hardware fly.
• Great in C/C++ and able to build fast, efficient code from the ground up.
• Obsessed with performance and precision, especially in ML workloads.
• Motivated by complex problems and thrives in collaborative, fast-moving environments.

What We Need

• Expertise in building and optimizing compute kernels for parallel ML and high-performance workloads.
• Ability to analyze and tune instruction-level performance across latency, memory, and bandwidth.
• A collaborative mindset to work closely with ML engineers and integrate optimizations into production.
• Ownership of debugging, profiling, and maintaining a fast, reliable low-level software stack.

What You Will Learn

• The art of pushing AI hardware to its limits by shaping how kernels are written and executed.
• How to integrate kernel work into ML frameworks and real-world training pipelines.
• Skills in tuning performance on cutting-edge architectures with top-tier hardware engineers.
• Expertise in keeping code lean, reliable, and scalable even under heavy workloads.

Compensation for all engineers at Tenstorrent ranges from $100k - $500k including base and variable compensation targets. Experience, skills, education, background and location all impact the actual offer made.

Tenstorrent offers a highly competitive compensation package and benefits, and we are an equal opportunity employer.

This offer of employment is contingent upon the applicant being eligible to access U.S. export-controlled technology. Due to U.S. export laws, including those codified in the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Company is required to ensure compliance with these laws when transferring technology to nationals of certain countries (such as EAR Country Groups D:1, E1, and E2). These requirements apply to persons located in the U.S. and all countries outside the U.S. As the position offered will have direct and/or indirect access to information, systems, or technologies subject to these laws, the offer may be contingent upon your citizenship/permanent residency status or ability to obtain prior license approval from the U.S. Commerce Department or applicable federal agency. If employment is not possible due to U.S. export laws, any offer of employment will be rescinded.