Senior Staff Software Engineer, ML Inference

Are you ready to revolutionize the advertising industry?
At Cognitiv, we are not just another AdTech company—we are industry trailblazers redefining media buying with our Deep Learning Advertising Platform. Since 2015, we have harnessed the power of cutting-edge deep learning technology and data science to transform how brands connect with their customers. Our mission? To bring intelligence to advertising and deliver unparalleled precision, relevance, and impact at scale.
With our innovative platform, advertisers enjoy unprecedented flexibility—whether it is activating Dynamic Deals through their preferred DSP, leveraging our managed service DSP, or utilizing our industry-first ContextGPT product. As a part of Cognitiv, you will be at the forefront of AI-driven advertising solutions, driving change and achieving remarkable growth in a rapidly evolving industry.
Now, we’re growing!
The Role
We are searching for one of the absolute best ML inference engineers in the industry—someone excited to architect and scale a cutting-edge inference system that becomes the backbone of Cognitiv’s ML-driven products.
In this role, you will define what inference means to Cognitiv and lead the cross-organizational effort to bring that vision to life. You’ll build performance-critical systems powering real-time decision-making for some of the world’s biggest brands, while helping shape the future of AI in AdTech.
This role is foundational. It is high-impact. And it is a rare opportunity to build both the system and the team around one of the most strategic technical pillars in the company.
What You’ll Do

Build Production AdTech Systems: Design and implement reliable software and infrastructure that serves large-scale machine learning models in real-world production environments.
Optimize for Performance at Scale: Improve throughput and latency using a mix of industry-standard frameworks and custom-built solutions tailored to Cognitiv’s workloads.
Set the Vision & Influence Execution: Define the technical direction for inference initiatives, articulate a clear vision, and influence teams across the organization to align and execute against it.
Bridge Research to Production: Identify long-term risks and emerging technical breakthroughs, partnering closely with Research, Product, and Engineering to translate ML capabilities into business impact.
Grow the Technical Community: Mentor engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and pair programming while elevating technical collaboration across the organization.
Set and Automate Standards: Establish best practices for coding, testing, observability, and security — and embed them into the platform through automation.
Tech Stack

Languages: C++17+, C#, Java
Cloud: AWS, GCP, or Azure
Infrastructure: Terraform, Ansible, containers
ML: PyTorch ecosystem & model serving
Optimization: parallelism, quantization, tiling
Hardware Acceleration: GPU inference
Who You Are

Strong C++ Systems Engineer: 5+ years building performance-critical software in C++17 or later, with a focus on reliability, efficiency, and production quality.
Infrastructure-Minded Builder: Comfortable working with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible, etc.) and thinking beyond code into deployment, reproducibility, and operational scalability.
End-to-End Owner: You naturally take services from planning and design through implementation, delegation, testing, release, and ongoing operation — and feel accountable for outcomes, not just code.
Clear Technical Communicator: You can articulate complex technical ideas simply, shape organization-level technical narratives, and drive alignment across Engineering, Research, and Product.
Bonus Points If You Have

Familiar with PyTorch or equivalent ML framework
Experience with deep learning optimization (parallelism, quantization, tiling, etc.)
Experience with GPU/hardware acceleration (NVIDIA TensorRT, etc.)
Experience with ML Ops technologies (model lifecycle management, ML integrated platforms, model observability, automation, etc.)
Familiar with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes, etc.)
Experience with advanced ML architectures (two-tower models, teacher-student learning, etc.)
Experience with Rust
Experience with AI development technology (AI code review, AI code assistants, etc.)
Salary: $260,000 - $320,000 USD Base Salary + Equity
What We Offer
Compensation is based on experience, skills, and other factors. Base salary is just one part of your total rewards at Cognitiv—you’ll also receive equity and a comprehensive benefits package.
Highlights Include

Medical, dental & vision coverage (some plans 100% employer-paid)
12 weeks paid parental leave + 4 weeks WFH
Unlimited PTO + Work-From-Anywhere August
Career development with clear advancement paths
Equity for all employees
Hybrid work model & daily team lunch
Health & wellness stipend + cell phone reimbursement
401(k) with employer match
Parking (CA & WA offices) & pre-tax commuter benefits
Employee Assistance Program
Comprehensive onboarding (Cognitiv University)
…and more!
What You’ll Find at Cognitiv

Festiv – We make work fun with cross-team games, events, and creative team bonding.
Responsiv – You’ll be close to clients and leadership, influencing real outcomes.
Inclusiv – Diversity and individuality are celebrated across all levels.
Inventiv – We reward curiosity and embrace bold ideas.
Transformativ – We support your growth with training, mentorship, and flexibility.
Collaborativ – We operate across coasts, connected by purpose and teamwork.
Cognitiv is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for all.