diff --git a/src/speculators/utils/loading.py b/src/speculators/utils/loading.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54595e58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/speculators/utils/loading.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+import torch
+from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download
+from loguru import logger
+from safetensors import safe_open
+
+
+def load_model_layers(
+    layer_names: list[str], model_path: str
+) -> dict[str, torch.Tensor]:
+    """
+    Load one or more named tensors from a HF repo using safetensors shards.
+    Returns a single tensor if len(layer_names)==1, else a dict[name] -> tensor.
+
+    :param layer_names: list of tensor names to load, e.g.
+    ["model.embed_tokens.weight", "lm_head.weight"]
+    :param model_path: either a local directory containing model.safetensors.index
+    :return: a single tensor or a dict of tensors
+    """
+    # download the index file
+    index_file = _resolve_file(model_path, "model.safetensors.index.json")
+    with Path(index_file).open() as f:
+        index = json.load(f)
+
+    weight_map: dict[str, str] = index["weight_map"]
+
+    # group requested names by shard filename
+    shard_to_names: dict[str, list[str]] = {}
+    for name in layer_names:
+        shard = weight_map.get(name)
+        if shard is None:
+            logger.error(f"Tensor '{name}' not found in index weight_map.")
+            continue
+        shard_to_names.setdefault(shard, []).append(name)
+
+    if not shard_to_names:
+        raise ValueError("None of the requested tensor names were found in the index.")
+
+    # fetch each required shard and extract only the requested tensors
+    out: dict[str, Any] = {}
+    for shard_file, names in shard_to_names.items():
+        shard_path = _resolve_file(model_path, shard_file)
+        with safe_open(shard_path, framework="pt", device="cpu") as f:
+            available = set(f.keys())
+            for name in names:
+                if name not in available:
+                    logger.error(
+                        f"Tensor '{name}' not found inside shard '{shard_file}'."
+                    )
+                    continue
+                out[name] = f.get_tensor(name)
+    return out
+
+
+def _resolve_file(model_path: str, file_name: str) -> Path:
+    """
+    If model_path is a local directory, return path/<filename> if it exists.
+    Otherwise treat model_path as a HF repo_id and download with hf_hub_download.
+
+    :param model_path: local directory or HF repo_id
+    :param file_name: filename to look for or download
+    :return: local path to the resolved file
+    """
+    model_path_obj = Path(model_path)
+    if model_path_obj.is_dir():
+        logger.info("Loading from local directory: {}", model_path)
+        p = model_path_obj / file_name
+        if not p.exists():
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Expected local file missing: {p}")
+        return p
+    # Treat as repo_id on the Hub
+    logger.info(f"Loading from huggingface directory: {model_path}: {file_name}")
+    return Path(hf_hub_download(repo_id=model_path, filename=file_name))