Senior AI Engineer – LLM Inference & Cloud at Nebius in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
A High-Value Niche at the Intersection of AI and Customer Engineering
This role is strategically positioned in one of the fastest-growing infrastructure segments: AI cloud and LLM inference platforms. Skills developed here — vLLM, TensorRT, GPU orchestration, distributed systems at scale — are among the most sought-after in the industry right now, with demand far outpacing supply.
Green flags for career-minded candidates:
- Nebius is Nasdaq-listed (NBIS) with 1,500+ staff — beyond startup volatility, but still in a high-growth phase where individual impact is visible.
- The "Token Factory" team name signals a product-focused, metrics-driven culture — good for engineers who want measurable outcomes on their CV.
- Exposure to enterprise AI deployments from PoC to production is a rare and highly marketable experience; it builds a bridge between ML engineering and technical account management.
- Direct feedback loop to Product and Infrastructure teams offers genuine influence over the product roadmap.
Watch points:
- No salary range is published — for a senior role in Amsterdam or remote Europe, market rates typically range from €90,000–€140,000+ annually depending on location and seniority. Push for transparency early.
- Production incident ownership can erode work-life balance if on-call expectations aren't clearly defined. Ask specifically about SLA requirements and rotation schedules.
- The role blends SRE, solutions engineering, and customer success — strong for generalists, but less so if you want deep specialization in a single domain.
Overall, this is a strong mid-to-senior career move for ML infrastructure engineers who want to build customer-facing credibility alongside technical depth.
About Nebius:
Nebius is leading a new era in cloud infrastructure for the global AI economy. We are building a full-stack AI cloud platform that supports developers and enterprises from data and model training through to production deployment, without the cost and complexity of building large in-house AI/ML infrastructure.
Built by engineers, for engineers. From large-scale GPU orchestration to inference optimization, we own the hard problems across compute, storage, networking and applied AI.
Listed on Nasdaq (NBIS) and headquartered in Amsterdam, we have a global footprint with R&D hubs across Europe, the UK, North America and Israel. Our team of 1,500+ includes hundreds of engineers with deep expertise across hardware, software and AI R&D.
The Role
We're looking for a Senior Customer AI Engineer who will join our Token Factory team to help our customers successfully transition from proof-of-concept to production and scale their AI workloads on Nebius infrastructure.
This role sits at the intersection of engineering, delivery, and customer success – ensuring that what was promised during pre-sales actually works reliably in production. You will work closely with customer engineering teams, Solution Architects, and Product/Infrastructure teams to drive stable, performant, and cost-efficient deployments.
This role is NOT:
- A sales role (though you will support expansion through value)
- A pure support role (you won't just react to tickets)
- A solution architect role (you won't design systems from scratch)
You're welcome to work remotely from Europe.
Your Responsibilities
Own the Production Journey
- Lead the transition from PoC to production
- Ensure customer workloads are deployed, stable, and scalable
- Drive time-to-production and time-to-value
Ensure Technical Success in Production
- Understand customer architectures and use cases
- Monitor and improve: performance (latency, throughput), cost efficiency, and reliability
- Identify and resolve bottlenecks proactively
Act as a Trusted Technical Partner
- Work directly with customer engineering teams
- Provide guidance on best practices and optimisation
- Translate technical challenges into actionable solutions
Manage Risks and Incidents
- Act as a primary technical contact for production issues
- Coordinate with internal teams to resolve incidents
- Communicate clearly during high-pressure situations
Drive Continuous Improvement
- Identify opportunities to optimise and expand usage
- Provide structured feedback to Product and Infrastructure teams
- Help shape better solutions based on real customer needs
We Expect You to Have:
Technical Background
- Practical knowledge of inference frameworks (e.g. vLLM, TensorRT, or similar)
- Solid understanding of: cloud or infrastructure systems; distributed systems or high-load applications; AI/ML workloads (LLMs, inference, etc.) is a strong plus
- Ability to troubleshoot and reason about system performance
Customer-Facing Experience
- Experience working directly with technical customers (e.g. engineers, ML teams)
- Ability to communicate complex topics clearly and effectively
Ownership & Execution
- Strong sense of ownership – you drive outcomes, not just tasks
- Ability to manage multiple customers and priorities
- Structured, proactive, and solution-oriented mindset
Bonus Points If You Have:
- Experience with GPU workloads or AI infrastructure
- Background in solutions engineering, SRE, or technical support in B2B environments
Benefits & Perks:
- Competitive compensation
- Career growth and learning opportunities
- Flexibility and ownership
- Collaborative and innovative culture
- Opportunity to work on impactful AI projects
- International environment and talented teams
What It's Like to Work at Nebius:
Fast moving · Bold thinking · Constant growth · Meaningful impact · Trust and real ownership · Opportunity to shape the future of AI
Equal Opportunity Statement:
Nebius is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace and to providing equal employment opportunities in all aspects of employment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the country in which they apply and will be required to provide proof of employment eligibility as a condition of hire.
If you need accommodations during the application process, please let us know.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this role fully remote or does it require office attendance?
What does the 'Token Factory' team do at Nebius?
What technical skills are required for this position?
Is a salary range available for this role?
Does this role involve sales or pure technical support?
