About the Company
DiDi's autonomous driving unit was established in 2016 with the mission of developing Level 4 autonomous driving (AD) technology to make transportation safer and more efficient. In August 2019, the unit became an independent company, DiDi Autonomous Driving, dedicated to advanced AD R&D, product application, and business expansion. We believe integrating AD technology into a shared-mobility fleet will generate immense social value. By leveraging DiDi's specialized technology, operational expertise, and integrated ecosystem, we are positioned to build and operate a highly efficient, user-oriented autonomous fleet.
At DiDi Autonomous Driving, we firmly believe that the future of mobility goes beyond simply "utilizing AI"—it will be fundamentally reimagined and entirely driven by an AI-Native architecture.
We are seeking a visionary, highly technical, and mission-driven Staff / Principal Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to act as the ultimate catalyst for our company-wide AI transformation. In this strategic, high-impact leadership role, you will combine cutting-edge Large Language Model (LLM) expertise, robust systems architecture design, and a proven track record of enterprise-level AI scaling. You will embed deeply with our core engineering teams to evolve our traditional R&D organization into a truly AI-Native powerhouse.
Key Responsibilities
- AI Infrastructure & Platform Architecture: Spearhead the evaluation, selection, and deep integration of frontier LLM ecosystems (e.g., Llama, Hugging Face) and commercial AI platforms. Own the architectural design of our unified, distributed AI platform spanning complex data processing, model training, inference pipelines, and evaluation frameworks.
- Forward Deployed Execution: Embed directly with core autonomous driving teams (Perception, Prediction, Planning & Control, and Simulation) via the FDE model. Pinpoint engineering bottlenecks, eliminate friction, and translate complex AI capabilities into production-ready internal ecosystems (e.g., AI DevOps, AI Copilots).
- LLMOps / MLOps Orchestration & Optimization: Design and implement highly resilient, scalable automation pipelines for LLM deployment, monitoring, and continuous feedback loops. Optimize GPU cluster utilization, minimize inference latency, and maximize throughput across large-scale production environments.
- Technical Roadmap & Vision: Keep a strong pulse on breakthrough trends in AGI and systems engineering. Act as a "super-connector" between external technological innovations and internal systems, ensuring our AI infrastructure maintains a 1-3 year competitive edge.
- Architectural Vision + Hands-on Execution: A proven technical leader who can design complex, system-level architectures while maintaining a fierce passion for writing core code, debugging deep system issues, and optimizing low-level execution paths. Proficiency in core languages such as C++, Python, Java, JavaScript, etc.
- Cross-Functional Influence: Demonstrated ability to build technical authority, align priorities, and drive diverse engineering teams (Algorithms, Infrastructure, Hardware) toward adopting an AI-first engineering paradigm without relying on formal administrative authority.
- Enterprise AI Transformation: Proven experience leading or heavily contributing to a large-scale corporate "AI-native transformation," or a track record of building enterprise-grade AI/ML platforms from 0 to 1.
- Deep AI Tech Stack Expertise: Thorough hands-on deployment, tuning, and optimization experience with mainstream AI infrastructure tools and frameworks, including but not limited to PyTorch, Ray, vLLM, Triton Inference Server, Kubernetes, DeepSpeed, and Megatron-LM.
- Hardcore AI Infra Experience: Years of deep, practical experience in distributed LLM training/inference optimization and large-scale compute cluster infrastructure & operations (I&O).
- Domain Expertise: Familiarity with autonomous driving algorithms (Perception, Planning, Control, Simulation), robotics, physics-based simulation engines, or ultra-large-scale ML training/serving clusters is highly preferred.
- Senior Industry Track Record: 8-10+ years of professional engineering depth in systems software, core cloud infrastructure, or production-grade machine learning platforms.
- Agentic Frameworks & Developer Productivity: Hands-on experience building custom AI Copilot applications, autonomous Multi-Agent Frameworks, or high-tier developer productivity platforms.
- Thriving in Complexity: Proven success steering core project delivery amidst complex business logic, fast-paced/high-pressure environments, or mission-critical systems.
- Technical Influence: An active contributor to the broader tech community (e.g., open-source maintainer/owner, author of high-quality technical blogs/papers, or speaker at premier industry AI/ML conferences).
The base salary range for this full-time position is $255,000 -$351,000 annually in addition to bonus, equity and benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
I acknowledge that prior to submitting this application, I have read and accepted the Privacy Notice for California Residents which is available on https://v.didi.cn/AQnxlBa
Skills Required
- Design complex system-level architectures and write core code, debug deep system issues, and optimize low-level execution paths
- Proficiency in C++, Python, Java, JavaScript
- Proven ability to influence cross-functional engineering teams and drive AI-first adoption without formal authority
- Experience leading or heavily contributing to large-scale enterprise AI/ML platform development or AI-native transformation
- Hands-on deployment, tuning, and optimization experience with PyTorch, Ray, vLLM, Triton Inference Server, Kubernetes, DeepSpeed, Megatron-LM
- Deep practical experience in distributed LLM training/inference optimization and large-scale compute cluster infrastructure and operations
- Familiarity with LLM ecosystems (e.g., Llama, Hugging Face) and commercial AI platforms
- Domain expertise in autonomous driving algorithms, robotics, simulation engines, or ultra-large-scale ML systems
- 8-10+ years professional engineering experience in systems software, cloud infrastructure, or production ML platforms
- Experience building AI Copilot applications, multi-agent frameworks, or developer productivity platforms
- Track record of operating in fast-paced, mission-critical environments and community contributions (open source, talks, papers)
What We Do
DiDi Global Inc. (NYSE: DIDI) is the world’s leading mobility technology platform. It offers a wide range of app-based services across Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa, as well as in Central Asia and Russia, including ride hailing, taxi hailing, chauffeur, hitch and other forms of shared mobility as well as auto solutions, food delivery, intra-city freight and financial services. DiDi provides car owners, drivers and delivery partners with flexible work and income opportunities. It is committed to collaborating with policymakers, the taxi industry, the automobile industry and the communities to solve the world’s transportation, environmental and employment challenges through the use of AI technology and localized smart transportation innovations. DiDi strives to create better life experiences and greater social value, by building a safe, inclusive and sustainable transportation and local services ecosystem for cities of the future.
