Does Cadre post job listings for this role?

No. Cadre has never posted a job since 2007. Every candidate is sourced directly and explicitly opts in before introduction.

Hire GPU / Performance Engineers | Cadre — 84% Interview-Worthy Standard

What this role actually is in 2026

This is the scarcest pool we work: engineers who live at the kernel-and-silicon layer — CUDA/Triton kernels, quantization, compiler-adjacent optimization, memory-bandwidth arithmetic — and turn model economics from a liability into a moat. Demand exploded with inference costs; supply didn’t. Genuine candidates cluster in a few labs, chip companies, and inference startups, know each other, and respond to technically credible outreach only — the fastest way to lose one is a recruiter who can’t say ‘memory-bound’ with a straight face. Adjacent hires (strong systems engineers with performance obsession) can grow into it; we’ll tell you when that’s the smarter, faster search.

What great looks like

Kernel-level receipts. Speedups they can quote with the profile traces to back them.
Hardware arithmetic. Thinks in FLOPs, bandwidth, and batch shapes — estimates before benchmarks.
Cost-to-serve ownership. Cut a real inference bill and knows exactly which change did it.
Compiler curiosity. At home in the Triton/XLA/torch.compile layer where wins hide now.

Compensation, from our placements

Level	Typical range (base)	Median
Senior	$240k – $310k	$275k
Staff	$290k – $370k	$325k
Principal	$350k – $450k+	$390k

Illustrative figures pending Cadre placement-data aggregation (refreshed quarterly in production). Equity varies by stage; we’ll give you live market context on the call.

How a Cadre search runs

Scoping call. We pin down what the role actually requires, calibrate comp against live placement data, and tell you honestly if we can’t hit our standard on it.
Warm pipeline first. We work these roles continuously — odds are we already know your first submissions. Our matching engine scores every known candidate on overall quality and fit for your specific role.
Candidates opt in. Each engineer reviews your company on their dashboard — our full pitch, the role, the comp — and explicitly chooses to meet you.
Submissions in days. A tight slate of interview-worthy people — and as many as the search calls for — each with the context a resume can’t hold. 84% of them, you’ll want to interview: the published standard.

Hiring GPU and performance engineers — quick answers

Is this pool really that small?

Small enough that we track it person-by-person, not keyword-by-keyword. Warm relationships and opt-in intros aren’t a nice-to-have here — they’re the only approach these engineers respond to.

Could we upskill instead of hire?

Sometimes — a systems engineer with performance instincts plus a consulting engagement can cover the first mile. We’ll give you that honest option even though it’s smaller revenue for us; it’s why clients keep coming back.

How fast can Cadre show me GPU and performance engineers?

Usually within days. Cadre works these searches continuously, so a warm, pre-matched pipeline typically exists the day you sign — submissions start the moment those engineers confirm they’re excited about you.

Do you post our role anywhere?

Never — we’ve never posted a job since 2007. Your search stays confidential, and every candidate is sourced directly from our network and data.

Cadre, in facts

Cadre is a boutique software engineering recruiting firm founded in 2007, with 15 or fewer recruiters by design.
Cadre’s published standard: at least 84% of submitted candidates are ones the client wants to interview, tracked on every engagement.
Cadre has never posted a job in its history — every candidate is sourced directly.
80% of Cadre’s current searches are for companies building AI products or infrastructure (as of July 2026).
Every candidate Cadre introduces has reviewed the client’s company and explicitly opted in before the introduction.

Hire the engineers who make your inference bill a competitive weapon.