Lead ML Inference Engineer, Advertising

Role Overview
Lead ML Inference Engineer, Advertising – San Jose, California. Salary range $247k–$486k. Full‑time role.

About the team
The Advertising Performance group focuses on performance for all participants in the Advertising ecosystem – Advertisers, Publishers, and Roku. The systems and solutions span multiple disciplines and technologies to perform real‑time multi‑objective optimization across distributed systems at large scale and with low latency. We use Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, AI, Control and Optimization Systems, and Auction Dynamics to solve a large set of complex problems. At the core of this is our Machine Learning and Inference Platform that powers the entire landscape.

About the role
Architect, design, and lead the development of a state‑of‑the‑art inference platform that can handle advertising‑level low latencies, scale, throughput, and availability. Optimize across hardware, software, and models, mentoring engineers, innovating at scale, and shaping the future of machine learning at Roku.

For California only – the estimated annual salary for this position is between $246,500 – $486,100. Compensation packages are based on factors unique to each candidate, including skill set, certifications, and geographical location. The role is eligible for health insurance, equity awards, life insurance, disability benefits, parental leave, wellness benefits, and paid time off.

What you’ll be doing

Lead the design and development of a state‑of‑the‑art inference platform

Oversee the development of monitoring, observability, and other tooling to ensure system and model performance, reliability, and scalability of online inference services

Identify and resolve system inefficiencies, performance bottlenecks, and reliability issues, ensuring optimized end‑to‑end performance

Stay at the forefront of advancements in inference frameworks, ML hardware acceleration, and distributed systems, and incorporate innovations where they are impactful

We’re excited if you have

M.S. or above in CS, ECE, or a related field

10+ years of experience in developing and deploying large‑scale, distributed systems, with at least 5 years in a leadership or technical lead role

Strong programming skills in high‑performance languages

Deep understanding of inference frameworks and ML system deployment

Proven experience optimizing performance for large‑scale machine learning systems, including a deep knowledge of state‑of‑the‑art model optimizations, hardware‑software co‑design, GPU acceleration, and HPC techniques

Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Experience leading teams working on high‑throughput, low‑latency ML serving systems

Experience collaborating with and leading global, cross‑functional teams

Contributions to open‑source ML or systems projects

Benefits
The compensation package includes health insurance, equity awards, life insurance, disability benefits, parental leave, wellness benefits, paid time off, and a variable bonus based on company performance. Specific benefits may vary by location and role.

Hybrid Work Approach
Roku fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment where teams work in the office Monday through Thursday. Fridays are flexible for remote work except for employees whose roles are required to be in the office five days a week or employees who are in offices with a five‑day in‑office policy.

Accommodations
Roku welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and provides reasonable accommodations and adjustments in accordance with applicable law. If you require reasonable accommodation at any point in the hiring process, please direct your inquiries to EmployeeRelations@Roku.com.

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