JOB DESCRIPTION
About NIO
NIO is a pioneer and a leading company in the premium smart electric vehicle market. Founded in November 2014, NIO’s mission is to shape a joyful lifestyle. NIO aims to build a community starting with smart electric vehicles to share joy and grow together with users.
NIO designs, develops, jointly manufactures and sells premium smart electric vehicles, driving innovations in next-generation technologies in autonomous driving, digital technologies, electric powertrains and batteries. NIO differentiates itself through its continuous technological breakthroughs and innovations, such as its industry-leading battery swapping technologies, Battery as a Service, or BaaS, as well as its proprietary autonomous driving technologies and Autonomous Driving as a Service, or ADaaS.
NIO’s product portfolio consists of the ES8, a six-seater smart electric flagship SUV, the ES7 (or the EL7), a mid-large five-seater smart electric SUV, the ES6, a five-seater all-round smart electric SUV, the EC7, a five-seater smart electric flagship coupe SUV, the EC6, a five-seater smart electric coupe SUV, the ET7, a smart electric flagship sedan, and the ET5, a mid-size smart electric sedan.
- Conduct original applied research on LLM/VLM model architectures, inference acceleration methods, and system-level optimizations.
- Architect and prototype cutting-edge techniques for model architecture and inference acceleration, parallelization, custom kernels, and hardware-software co-design.
- Lead proof-of-concept implementations to evaluate tradeoffs in functionality, latency, throughput, and reliability.
- Collaborate with system and hardware engineers to translate research insights into scalable, high-performance production systems.
- Define the research and technology roadmap for AIOS solutions in the context of model deployment across EV domains.
- Track industry and academic advances in LLM/VLM, and contribute to the organization’s research leadership through publications, patents, and participation in the research community.
- Master or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields.
- Strong research and/or hands-on experience in LLMs/VLMs, including Transformer-based architectures and their optimizations.
- Expertise in LLM inference acceleration techniques, such as kernel optimization, quantization, parallelism, and system-level optimization.
- Solid understanding of GPU/NPU architectures, compiler stacks, and AI training/inference frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX).
- Proficiency in programming with Python and/or C/C++, with experience in developing high-performance and scalable software systems.
- Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, publish in top venues, and work across interdisciplinary teams.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical ideas clearly.
- Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields (or Ph.D. candidate expecting graduation within 6–12 months).
- Strong track record of publications in AI/ML conferences or journals (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, MLSys, ASPLOS).
- Experience with hardware-aware AI model optimization, such as custom CUDA kernels, NPU programming, or compiler/toolchain development.
- Background in distributed training/inference, large-scale system optimization, or embedded/edge AI.
- Familiarity with operating system concepts, computer architecture concepts, and software-hardware co-design.
- Passion for applying AI research to real-world domains such as automotive, robotics, or edge intelligence.
Compensation:
The US base salary range for this full-time position is $143,200.00 - $186,000.00.Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only. It does not include discretionary bonus, equity, or benefits.
Benefits:
Along with competitive pay, as a full-time NIO employee, you are eligible for the following benefits on the first day you join NIO:
CIGNA EPO, HSA, and Kaiser HMO medical plans with $0 for Employee Only Coverage.
Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plan. Both provide options with a $0 paycheck contribution covering you and your eligible dependents.
Company Paid HSA (Health Savings Account) Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible CIGNA medical plan
Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) with Brokerage Link option
Company paid Basic Life, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance
Employee Assistance Program
Sick and Vacation time
13 Paid Holidays a year
Paid Parental Leave for first 8 weeks at full pay (eligible after 90 days of employment with NIO)
Paid Disability Leave for first 6 weeks at full pay (eligible after 90 days of employment with NIO)
Voluntary benefits including: Voluntary Life and AD&D options for you, your spouse/domestic partner and dependent child(ren), pet insurance
Commuter benefits
Mobile Cell Phone Credit
Healthjoy mobile benefit app supporting you and your dependents with benefit questions on the go & support with benefit billing questions
Free lunch and snacks
Onsite gym
Employee discounts and perks program
Top Skills
What We Do
NIO’s mission is to shape a joyful lifestyle by offering premium smart electric vehicles and providing the best user experience. NIO was founded in November 2014 as a global electric vehicle company. The company has over 7,000 employees working across world-class research and development, design and manufacturing centers in Shanghai, Beijing, San Jose, Munich, London and six other locations. In 2015, NIO was the title sponsor for the Drivers’ Championship winning team during the inaugural ABB FIA Formula E season. In 2016, NIO unveiled one of the fastest electric cars in the world, the EP9. The EP9 set the lap record for an electric vehicle at the Nürburgring Nordschleife and three other world-renowned tracks. In 2017, NIO unveiled its vision car EVE and announced that the NIO EP9 set a new world speed record for an autonomous vehicle at the Circuit of the Americas. NIO officially began deliveries of the ES8, the high-performance electric flagship SUV, on June 28, 2018. NIO was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on September 12, 2018. NIO officially launched the high-performance long-range electric SUV, NIO ES6, at NIO Day on December 15, 2018. On May 28, 2019, the first production model ES6 rolled off the line at the JAC NIO Advanced Manufacturing Center. NIO officially began deliveries of the ES6 on June 18, 2019. NIO officially launched the EC6, a 5-seater smart premium electric coupe SUV, in December 2019 and began deliveries of the EC6 on September 2020. On January 9, 2021, NIO ET7, the smart electric flagship sedan and NIO’s first autonomous driving model, was officially launched.
