# Multimodal AI Model Optimization Research Engineer

**Company:** [Tavus](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/tavus)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** ML Engineering
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** PyTorch, Model Optimization, Knowledge Distillation, Pruning, Sparsification, Quantization, Mixed Precision, Low-Rank Adapters, Gpu Inference, Python, TensorRT, Onnx Runtime, Tvm, Triton, CUDA
**Posted:** 2026-06-15

> Research Engineer optimizing multimodal AI models (video, audio, language) for production using distillation, quantization, sparsification. Focus on latency, cost, quality tradeoffs for real-time generative avatar systems.

## Job Description

## Mission
Take cutting-edge research models and make them fast, efficient, and production-ready using sparsification, distillation, and quantization. Own the optimization lifecycle for key models: define metrics, run experiments, and benchmark trade-offs across latency, cost, and quality. Partner closely with researchers and engineers to turn new ideas into deployable systems.

## Requirements
- Strong experience in deep learning using PyTorch
- Hands-on experience with model optimization and compression, including knowledge distillation, pruning/sparsification, quantization, and mixed precision
- Understanding of efficient architectures such as low-rank adapters
- Strong understanding of inference performance and GPU/accelerator fundamentals
- Strong Python coding skills and reliable research engineering practices
- Experience working with large models and datasets in cloud environments
- Ability to read ML papers, reproduce results, and adapt ideas
- Clear communication and collaboration skills

## Preferred
- Optimization of diffusion models, video/audio generative models, or large language models
- Experience with real-time or streaming systems (low-latency APIs, WebRTC, streaming TTS/video)
- Familiarity with TensorRT, ONNX Runtime, TVM, Triton, or XLA
- Experience writing custom Triton/CUDA kernels or low-level performance tuning
- Experience with experiment tracking, benchmarking, and profiling at scale
- Prior experience in research engineering or applied science roles

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**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/c1bc596b-ce09-47c7-8296-b0dd9c934e83