Trainium (NKI) Kernel Expert
Evaluate the quality, correctness, and hardware-appropriateness of Neuron Kernel Interface (NKI) development tasks used to train and evaluate a frontier AI lab's models.
- Pay
- Firm hourly pay: $70-$90 per hour
- Location
- Remote — United States
- Eligibility
- Remote; check the U.S. location wording
- Qualification difficulty
- Selective
How current is this information?
The public role and application path were checked. Details can still change; this is not an endorsement or guarantee.
- Platform
- Mercor
- Fit category
- Software engineering
- Listing/source checked
- Sep 1, 2026
- Inventory presence checked
- Sep 28, 2026
- Apply link checked
- Sep 1, 2026
Application
Continue to the current Mercor listing
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What this role involves
Evaluate the quality, correctness, and hardware-appropriateness of Neuron Kernel Interface (NKI) development tasks used to train and evaluate a frontier AI lab's models. You'll assess CUDA→NKI migration fidelity, Trainium-specific performance-optimization quality, and cross-platform numerical-correctness standards — and provide clear, rubric-based written feedback.
Basic Qualifications • 2+ years of hands-on experience developing or optimizing kernels using the Neuron Kernel Interface (NKI) targeting AWS Trainium/Inferentia2 hardware • Strong understanding of NKI-specific development patterns: tile-based computation, SBUF/PSUM/HBM memory-hierarchy management, partition-dimension constraints, and DMA orchestration • Demonstrated experience assessing CUDA→NKI migration quality • Familiarity with Trainium-specific performance profiling (NeuronCore pipeline utilization, tensor-engine throughput, memory-bandwidth bottlenecks) • Experience defining or evaluating cross-platform numerical-correctness standards (GPU vs Trainium accumulation order, rounding behavior, mixed-precision semantics)
Preferred Qualifications
• Direct experience with AWS Neuron SDK, Neuron Compiler internals, or contributions to NKI kernel libraries • Prior CUDA or Triton kernel development • Familiarity with Trainium hardware specifications (NeuronCore-v2 architecture, on-chip SRAM topology, supported data types: FP32/BF16/FP8/INT8) • Experience benchmarking ML training workloads on Trn1/Trn2 instances
Before you apply
Review the main fit signals and unresolved details before opening the platform.
Why it may fit
- Professionals whose experience matches the current Trainium (NKI) Kernel Expert requirements.
- Applicants comfortable completing Mercor's role-specific assessment.
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Reasons to pause
- You cannot meet the listing's stated remote or location eligibility.
- You need guaranteed acceptance, hours, or project duration.
Still to verify
- Review the official Mercor listing before applying. Requirements, screening, pay, hours, and project availability can change.
- The reviewed listing had limited public detail; check the current platform page for the full requirements.
What to prepare
- Complete Mercor's role-specific application or assessment.
- Review the current Mercor listing before applying.
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Application tips
- Complete Mercor's role-specific application or assessment carefully.
- Review the current Mercor listing and its eligibility details before applying.