Head of MAX at Modular

About Modular
At Modular, we’re on a mission to revolutionize AI infrastructure by systematically rebuilding the AI software stack from the ground up. Our team, made up of industry leaders and experts, is building cutting-edge, modular infrastructure that simplifies AI development and deployment. By rethinking the complexities of AI systems, we’re empowering everyone to unlock AI’s full potential and tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
If you’re passionate about shaping the future of AI and creating tools that make a real difference in people’s lives, we want you on our team. You can read about our culture and careers to understand how we work and what we value.

About the role:
AI developers and researchers today face significant friction in taking trained models into deployment across different types of hardware. They work in a highly fragmented space, with incomplete and patchwork solutions that require integration of many open source components that often times work for one HW vendor but not the other. At Modular, we are building the next generation AI platform that will radically improve the way developers build and deploy AI models.
A core part of this offering is MAX - a modern AI inference solution built on the portable Mojo platform for heterogeneous AI acceleration. The Modular platform allows customers to achieve state-of-the-art performance across model families and hardware types. As the leader of the high-caliber MAX team, you will manage an engineering organization specializing in a state of the art inference framework, full stack optimizations including SoTA Kernel on latest GPUs and Accelerators, tools that enable developers to better understand performance, serving optimizations for distributed serving, all to enable frontier models. This organization is building MAX as the next generation framework for AI developers, and revolutionizing AI development and research.
This is a fantastic opportunity for a leader to help drive the core technology at Modular! LOCATION: Candidates based in the US or Canada are welcome to apply. You can work in our office in Los Altos, CA or remotely from home. Onboarding for new hires is conducted in-person in our Los Altos, CA office.

What you will do:

• Leadership: Direct the MAX organization, focusing on the development of MAX Serve, MAX Framework, MAX Kernels, and MAX Tools.
• Team Development: Cultivate and develop a high-performance team culture, fostering individual growth, collaboration, and innovation.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Modular’s engineering and product leaders to build a portable differentiated SaaS platform from Kernel to Cloud.
• Foster an enterprise adoption of MAX for serving and developing the most advanced GenAI models.
• Assist customers in deploying AI inference solutions with MAX.
• Technical Oversight: Make strategic architectural decisions that influence the direction of large-scale projects and initiatives.

What you bring to the table:

• 8+ years of experience in people management
• 10+ years of experience in the field of Machine learning, ML Frameworks, High performance computing or related areas.
• Proven experience in developing production-quality high-performance software.
• Proven experience in managing large teams and as a manager of managers.
• A robust understanding of the principles of AI Frameworks and serving.
• Experience navigating a fast-paced startup environment.

What Modular brings to the table:

• Amazing Team. We are a progressive and agile team with some of the industry’s best engineering and product leaders.
• World-class Benefits. In order to attract the best, we need to offer the best. Premier insurance plans, up to 5% 401k matching, flexible paid time off, and more are available to you! Please note that specific benefit packages may vary based on your location.
• Competitive Compensation. We offer very strong compensation packages, including stock options. We want people to be focused on their best work and believe in tailoring compensation plans to meet the needs of our workforce.
• Team Building Events. We organize regular team onsites and local meetups in Los Altos, CA as well as different cities. Traveling 2-4 times a year is expected for all roles.

Working at Modular will enable you to grow quickly as you work alongside incredibly motivated and talented people who have high standards, possess a growth mindset, and a purpose to truly change the world. The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in the US, regardless of the state, is $261,000.00 - $363,000.00 USD. The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in Canada, regardless of the province, is $256,000.00 - $356,000.00 CAD.
The salary for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of permissible, non-discriminatory job-related factors, which include but are not limited to education, training, work experience, business needs, or market demands. This range may be modified in the future. The total compensation for a candidate will also include annual target bonus, equity, and benefits, with equity making up a significant portion of your total compensation.For candidates who fall outside of the listed requirements, we nevertheless encourage you to apply as we may have openings that are lower/higher level than the ones advertised.