Staff Compiler Engineer

Location: United States / Canada / Europe

Department: Mojo

Location Type: REMOTE

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

About the role:

What you will do:

• Own the technical vision and architecture for the Mojo compiler backend, driving IR lowering, optimization passes, and code generation across CPUs, GPUs, and emerging AI accelerators.
• Lead complex compiler initiatives spanning MLIR, LLVM, and custom backend technologies while defining scalable architectures for future hardware targets.
• Serve as the technical leader for backend compiler engineering by driving design reviews, establishing engineering standards, mentoring teammates, and raising the overall technical bar.
• Design and implement compiler optimizations informed by real-world performance analysis, profiling data, and workload characteristics.
• Lead the evolution of Mojo's debugging and developer tooling ecosystem, including LLDB integration, profiling, debug information, language tooling, and next-generation developer workflows.
• Partner closely with engineers across the Mojo language, MAX, kernel, runtime, hardware enablement, and AI infrastructure teams to deliver a unified compiler platform.
• Collaborate with Developer Relations and the open-source community to gather feedback, shape technical direction, and support external contributors.
• Mentor engineers across the compiler organization, helping them grow technically while fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.

What you bring to the table:

• Deep hands-on experience building production compilers, including IR design, optimization passes, lowering pipelines, and code generation.
• Strong expertise with both LLVM and MLIR, including dialect development, conversion pipelines, optimization infrastructure, and backend code generation.
• Demonstrated technical leadership as a senior individual contributor, driving architecture, influencing technical direction, and mentoring engineers without formal management responsibilities.
• Expert-level C++ and strong Python proficiency.
• Experience building or extending debugger infrastructure, particularly within the LLDB or GDB ecosystem.
• Experience developing language tooling, such as language servers (LSP), IDE integrations, or other developer productivity tools.
• Strong understanding of modern CPU and GPU architectures, compiler performance optimization, and systems-level programming.
• Excellent communication skills with a proven ability to collaborate across distributed engineering teams.

• Experience contributing to open-source compiler projects or developer-facing SDKs.
• Experience partnering directly with users and developer communities to influence product direction.
• Expertise with profiling and performance analysis tools such as Linux perf, LLVM XRay, VTune, or equivalent.

What qualities will make you successful

• You enjoy solving deeply technical problems while helping other engineers succeed.
• You thrive in ambiguous environments and are comfortable defining technical direction where no roadmap yet exists.
• You balance long-term architectural thinking with pragmatic execution.
• You're passionate about building world-class developer tools and exceptional programming languages.
• You naturally mentor others, elevate engineering quality, and create clarity around complex technical decisions.
• You enjoy collaborating across compiler, runtime, AI infrastructure, and hardware teams to solve end-to-end systems challenges.

What you can expect

• Technical ownership over some of the most critical components of the Mojo compiler and developer tooling ecosystem.
• The opportunity to shape how developers build software for the next generation of AI hardware.
• Collaboration with world-class engineers across compilers, AI infrastructure, systems programming, and hardware acceleration.
• Significant influence over technical strategy, architecture, and the long-term evolution of the Mojo compiler.
• The opportunity to contribute extensively to open source and build technology used by developers around the world.
• A fast-moving, engineering-first environment where curiosity, ownership, and technical excellence drive everything we build.

What Modular brings to the table:

• Amazing Team. We are a progressive and agile team with some of the industry’s best engineering and product leaders.
• World-class Benefits. In order to attract the best, we need to offer the best. Premier insurance plans, up to 5% 401k matching, flexible paid time off, and more are available to you! Please note that specific benefit packages may vary based on your location.
• Competitive Compensation. We offer very strong compensation packages, including stock options. We want people to be focused on their best work and believe in tailoring compensation plans to meet the needs of our workforce. 
• Team Building Events. We organize regular team onsites and local meetups in Los Altos, CA as well as different cities. Traveling 2-4 times a year is expected for all roles.