Master’s Thesis opportunity on modern inference systems for large language models (LLMs)

IBM Research Zurich seeks a Master’s student for an on-site internship focused on optimizing inference systems for large language models within latency-sensitive environments.

This internship centers on advancing modern inference systems for large language models, specifically targeting environments where latency and throughput are critical. The work sits at the intersection of model architecture, sparse attention mechanisms, and system design, with strong ties to the vLLM open-source community. Successful candidates will aim to produce high-impact research papers and contribute to open-source codebases.

Responsibilities

• Analyze optimization strategies, learning dynamics, and model architectures theoretically.
• Model interactions across channels within state-space foundation models.
• Implement inference optimizations for large-scale serving and post-training processes.
• Develop and assess KV-cache management and offloading strategies for agentic workloads.
• Design AI-native multi-agent systems to improve inference engine capabilities.
• Collaborate with a global research team and participate in open-source development.

Requirements

• Current enrollment in a Master’s program in computer science or a closely related discipline.
• A strong interest in computer systems, machine learning infrastructure, or AI systems.
• Proficient programming skills, especially in Python and PyTorch.
• Comfortable working in Linux environments and using modern development tools like git, GitHub, containers, and virtual environments.
• Demonstrated analytical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.

Nice to have

• Prior experience with LLMs, transformer architectures, or hybrid model variants.
• Familiarity with LLM inference frameworks such as vLLM or large-scale model serving.
• Background in systems programming, performance optimization, or hardware-aware software design.
• Previous contributions to open-source projects.
• Excellent written and spoken English skills, along with strong presentation abilities.
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills.

What the company offers

• An engaging research internship within a world-class research environment.
• Close collaboration with experienced research scientists and engineers.
• Exposure to one of the most active open-source ecosystems in modern AI systems.

About the company

IBM Research Zurich operates as a global research team dedicated to advancing technology through innovation and collaboration.

• Part of a global research team at IBM Research.