Summer 2026

Inference Optimization Intern

Performance Modeling

Posted on 6/25/2026

Institute of Foundation Models

Institute of Foundation Models

Researches and develops foundation models

No salary listed

Sunnyvale, CA, USA

In Person

On-site in Sunnyvale, California.

Category
AI & Machine Learning (1)
Requirements
  • Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing, or a related quantitative discipline.
Responsibilities
  • Develop analytical performance models for GPU kernels and inference workloads.
  • Build and validate a simulator to estimate theoretical hardware performance limits.
  • Compare measured kernel performance against architectural peak throughput.
  • Identify performance bottlenecks in compute, memory, communication, and scheduling.
  • Analyze GPU execution using NVIDIA Nsight Systems and Nsight Compute.
  • Investigate PTX and SASS code generation to understand low-level execution behavior.
  • Collaborate with researchers and engineers to optimize inference kernels for transformer-based models.
  • Evaluate utilization of Tensor Cores, memory bandwidth, caches, and instruction pipelines.
  • Design profiling methodologies for Hopper and Blackwell architectures.
  • Document findings and provide actionable recommendations for performance improvements.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with CUDA programming and GPU kernel development.
  • Understanding of NVIDIA GPU architecture and memory hierarchy.
  • Familiarity with performance profiling tools such as Nsight Systems and Nsight Compute.
  • Knowledge of PTX, SASS, and low-level GPU execution.
  • Experience optimizing CUDA kernels for throughput and latency.
  • Understanding of roofline analysis, performance modeling, and hardware utilization metrics.
  • Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
  • Strong programming skills in C++, CUDA, and Python.
  • Performance engineering mindset.
  • Strong analytical and debugging abilities.
  • Interest in AI systems, inference optimization, and hardware-software co-design.
  • Ability to work independently on research and engineering challenges.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Institute of Foundation Models

Institute of Foundation Models

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IFM builds and studies foundation models—large AI models designed to learn broadly from diverse data and be used across many tasks. Its work centers on academic research to create open, fast, and practical models that address real-world societal needs, rather than narrow applications. The models are developed by a global team across Abu Dhabi, Paris, and Silicon Valley, with a strong emphasis on openness and collaboration to advance AI science and accessibility. Unlike typical private labs that lock models behind paywalls, IFM aims to provide publicly accessible, efficient models that can be used by researchers and developers to solve real problems. The overarching goal is to push the science of foundation models forward while ensuring their benefits reach society at large.

Company Size

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Company Stage

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Total Funding

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Headquarters

United Arab Emirates

Founded

N/A

Your Connections

People at Institute of Foundation Models who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • IFM's dedicated teams in Abu Dhabi, Paris, and Silicon Valley drive K2 and JAIS advancements.
  • Active job openings for AI research interns and engineers signal rapid team expansion.
  • PAN world model enables multi-level reasoning in simulations for real-world applications.

What critics are saying

  • OpenAI's o1 surpasses K2 and JAIS by 25% on benchmarks, shifting users in 6-12 months.
  • US export controls block NVIDIA H200 GPUs, delaying K2 releases by 9 months.
  • Stanford CRFM's model with 10x data captures 70% academic citations in 6-12 months.

What makes Institute of Foundation Models unique

  • IFM pioneers open-source K2 Think V2, UAE's sovereign 70B reasoning system released January 2026.
  • IFM advances JAIS 2, world's leading Arabic LLM trained on largest Arabic-first dataset.
  • IFM hosts models on Hugging Face under mbzuai-ifm for global open collaboration.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Paid Vacation

Paid Holidays

Parental Leave

Employee Assistance Program

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

401(k) Plan

Wellness Program

Flexible Work Hours

Remote Work Options

Hybrid Work Options

Stock Options

Company Equity