Staff AI Researcher

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. About The Position We are seeking exceptional AI researchers to join our team at the forefront of Large Language Model (LLM) and Vision-Language Model (VLM) research and turning the research into a production grade, deployable system. This role is ideal for graduating PhD students or recent PhDs with a strong research background and hands-on experience in LLM/VLM design, training, and inference optimization. You will be working on cutting-edge technologies that accelerate the performance, efficiency, and scalability of next-generation foundation models, especially in the context of real-world deployment on advanced computing platforms in electric vehicles (EVs). As part of our AIOS team, you will explore and invent new methods to improve LLM inference efficiency-ranging from architectural and system-level innovations, LLM compute optimization, and distributed/parallelized execution strategies, to low-level system and kernel-level optimizations. You will have the unique opportunity to conduct high-impact research while collaborating closely with engineering teams to bring your innovations into production systems powering SkyOS across multiple ECU domains. This role is highly interdisciplinary, bridging AI/ML research, systems design, and hardware-aware optimization, and offers the chance to shape the future of intelligent automotive systems. Roles and Responsibilities: • 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. Must Qualifications: • 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. Preferred Qualifications: • 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 $163,500.00 - $212,400.00. • 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