Forward Deployed Engineer
Tenstorrent is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer in Tokyo to own the technical outcome of customer AI systems: integrating hardware and software, deploying and validating inference clusters on Kubernetes, debugging across the inference stack, and running production operations. Core stack: Python (C++ a plus), Linux, Kubernetes/Helm, and LLM inference frameworks like vLLM.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Solutions engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 5+ years of relevant experience in applied engineering, machine learning engineering, MLOps, platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or site reliability engineering
- Proficiency in Python
- Experience turning ambiguous requirements into production-ready implementations, acceptance criteria, validation plans, and operating procedures
- Experience with Kubernetes and Linux systems administration at multi-node, HPC, or AI-cluster scale, including Helm-based deployments, observability, infrastructure automation, CI/CD, and release engi
- Experience with LLM inference frameworks such as vLLM, SGLang, or Mooncake
- Bilingual: native or business-level Japanese with business-level English
- Eligibility to access U.S. export-controlled technology (citizenship/permanent residency status or ability to obtain prior license approval per U.S. export laws)
Nice to have
- C++ experience
Full description
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.
We’re looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to own the technical outcome of the AI Hardware systems we build with our customers. You will work alongside customer engineering and operations teams to make complete systems work in production or near-production environments. This engineering role spans hardware and software integration, deployment, validation, automation, debugging, and ongoing operations. You will contribute to customer deployments, establish reliable operating procedures, and drive customer systems through resolution until they work as intended.
This role is Hybrid, based out of Tokyo, Japan.
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
- You take ownership of customer outcomes in deployed environments through integration, validation, production readiness, and operations.
- You understand how accelerator compute, memory, and networking topology constrain AI workloads, and don’t treat hardware as a black box.
- You work directly with customer engineering and operations teams to understand their environment, constraints, and desired outcomes.
- You’re comfortable debugging across the inference stack, from failing requests, kernel dispatch, drivers, networking, or hardware behavior.
- You automate repetitive work and communicate technical trade-offs clearly with both customer leadership and core engineering teams.
What We Need
Minimum Requirement
- Hands-on experience with Server hardware in a Datacenter environment.
- Experience troubleshooting complex issues with hardware and software.
- Experience with Linux systems administration, including knowledge of debugging OS issues.
- Previous experience in one of the following roles: Site Reliability Engineer, Systems Engineer, Platform Engineer, or Infrastructure Engineer.
- Travel within Japan may be required on an as-needed basis.