diff --git a/tests/entrypoints/pooling/embed/test_io_processor.py b/tests/entrypoints/pooling/embed/test_io_processor.py
index f25911b661f5..341ccbd5f0c5 100644
--- a/tests/entrypoints/pooling/embed/test_io_processor.py
+++ b/tests/entrypoints/pooling/embed/test_io_processor.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 
+from vllm import PoolingParams
 from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.embed.io_processor import EmbedIOProcessor
 from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.embed.protocol import (
     CohereEmbedContent,
@@ -218,6 +219,7 @@ class TestPreProcessCohereOnline:
     def _make_context(**request_kwargs) -> PoolingServeContext[CohereEmbedRequest]:
         return PoolingServeContext(
             request=CohereEmbedRequest(model="test", **request_kwargs),
+            pooling_params=PoolingParams(),
             model_name="test",
             request_id="embd-test",
         )
@@ -233,13 +235,13 @@ def test_text_only_without_task_prefix_uses_completion_path(self):
         ctx = self._make_context(texts=["hello"])
         calls: list[tuple[str, object]] = []
 
-        def preprocess_completion(request, prompt_input, prompt_embeds):
+        def preprocess_cmpl_online(request, prompt_input, prompt_embeds):
             calls.append(("completion", prompt_input))
             return ["completion"]
 
         handler._get_task_instruction_prefix = lambda _input_type: None
         handler._has_chat_template = lambda: False
-        handler._preprocess_completion_online = preprocess_completion
+        handler._preprocess_cmpl_online = preprocess_cmpl_online
         handler._batch_render_chat = lambda *_args, **_kwargs: (
             pytest.fail("text-only request should not require chat rendering")
         )
@@ -254,7 +256,7 @@ def test_text_only_falls_back_to_prefixed_completion_without_template(self):
         ctx = self._make_context(texts=["hello"], input_type="query")
         calls: list[tuple[str, object]] = []
 
-        def preprocess_completion(request, prompt_input, prompt_embeds):
+        def preprocess_cmpl(request, prompt_input, prompt_embeds):
             calls.append(("completion", prompt_input))
             return ["fallback"]
 
@@ -263,7 +265,7 @@ def preprocess_completion(request, prompt_input, prompt_embeds):
         handler._batch_render_chat = lambda *_args, **_kwargs: (
             pytest.fail("chat rendering should be skipped without a template")
         )
-        handler._preprocess_completion_online = preprocess_completion
+        handler._preprocess_cmpl_online = preprocess_cmpl
 
         handler._pre_process_cohere_online(ctx)
 
@@ -297,7 +299,7 @@ def batch_render_chat(
         handler._get_task_instruction_prefix = lambda _input_type: "query: "
         handler._has_chat_template = lambda: True
         handler._batch_render_chat = batch_render_chat
-        handler._preprocess_completion_online = lambda *_args, **_kwargs: (
+        handler._preprocess_cmpl_online = lambda *_args, **_kwargs: (
             pytest.fail("completion path should be skipped when a template exists")
         )
 
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/io_processor.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/io_processor.py
index 79f350382ddd..83e82664ef1b 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/io_processor.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/io_processor.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def pre_process_online(self, ctx: PoolingServeContext):
                 default_template_kwargs=None,
             )
         elif isinstance(request, PoolingCompletionLikeRequest):
-            engine_inputs = self._preprocess_completion_online(
+            engine_inputs = self._preprocess_cmpl_online(
                 request,
                 prompt_input=request.input,
                 prompt_embeds=None,
@@ -82,21 +82,12 @@ def pre_process_online(self, ctx: PoolingServeContext):
 
         ctx.engine_inputs = engine_inputs
 
-    async def pre_process_online_async(self, ctx: PoolingServeContext):
-        self.pre_process_online(ctx)
-
     def post_process_online(
         self,
         ctx: PoolingServeContext,
     ):
         pass
 
-    async def post_process_online_async(
-        self,
-        ctx: PoolingServeContext,
-    ):
-        self.post_process_online(ctx)
-
     #######################################
     # offline APIs
 
@@ -109,12 +100,7 @@ def pre_process_offline(self, ctx: OfflineInputsContext) -> Sequence[EngineInput
         tok_params = self.renderer.default_cmpl_tok_params.with_kwargs(
             **(ctx.tokenization_kwargs or {})
         )
-        return self._preprocess_completion_offline(
-            prompts=prompts_seq, tok_params=tok_params
-        )
-
-    async def pre_process_offline_async(self, ctx: OfflineInputsContext):
-        return self.pre_process_offline(ctx)
+        return self._preprocess_cmpl_offline(prompts=prompts_seq, tok_params=tok_params)
 
     def post_process_offline(
         self,
@@ -122,16 +108,10 @@ def post_process_offline(
     ) -> list[PoolingRequestOutput]:
         return ctx.outputs
 
-    async def post_process_offline_async(
-        self,
-        ctx: OfflineOutputsContext,
-    ) -> list[PoolingRequestOutput]:
-        return self.post_process_offline(ctx)
-
     #######################################
     # helpers
 
-    def _preprocess_completion_online(
+    def _preprocess_cmpl_online(
         self,
         request: RendererRequest,
         prompt_input: str | list[str] | list[int] | list[list[int]] | None,
@@ -209,7 +189,7 @@ def _preprocess_chat_online(
 
         return conversation, [engine_input]
 
-    def _preprocess_completion_offline(
+    def _preprocess_cmpl_offline(
         self,
         prompts: PromptType | Sequence[PromptType],
         tok_params: TokenizeParams,
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/serving.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/serving.py
index 0b83bf4c381b..c65bedc70f17 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/serving.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/base/serving.py
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator, Mapping
+from concurrent.futures import Executor
 from http import HTTPStatus
 from typing import ClassVar
 
+import torch
 from fastapi import Request
 from fastapi.responses import Response
 from starlette.datastructures import Headers
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@
     log_tracing_disabled_warning,
 )
 from vllm.utils import random_uuid
-from vllm.utils.async_utils import merge_async_iterators
+from vllm.utils.async_utils import make_async, merge_async_iterators
 
 from .io_processor import PoolingIOProcessor
 
@@ -67,16 +69,47 @@ def __init__(
             trust_request_chat_template=trust_request_chat_template,
         )
 
-    @abstractmethod
+        # Shared thread pool executor for preprocessing and postprocessing.
+        self._executor: Executor = models.renderer._executor
+        self._preprocessing_async = make_async(
+            self._preprocessing, executor=self._executor
+        )
+        self._postprocessing_async = make_async(
+            self._postprocessing, executor=self._executor
+        )
+
     async def __call__(
         self,
         request: AnyPoolingRequest,
         raw_request: Request | None = None,
     ) -> Response:
+        io_processor = self.get_io_processor(request)
+        ctx = await self._init_ctx(io_processor, request, raw_request)
+        await self._preprocessing_async(io_processor, ctx)
+        await self._prepare_generators(ctx)
+        await self._collect_batch(ctx)
+        return await self._postprocessing_async(io_processor, ctx)
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def get_io_processor(self, request: AnyPoolingRequest) -> PoolingIOProcessor:
         raise NotImplementedError
 
+    @torch.inference_mode()
+    def _preprocessing(
+        self, io_processor: PoolingIOProcessor, ctx: PoolingServeContext
+    ):
+        return io_processor.pre_process_online(ctx)
+
+    @torch.inference_mode()
+    def _postprocessing(
+        self, io_processor: PoolingIOProcessor, ctx: PoolingServeContext
+    ):
+        io_processor.post_process_online(ctx)
+        return self._build_response(ctx)
+
     async def _init_ctx(
         self,
+        io_processor: PoolingIOProcessor,
         request: AnyPoolingRequest,
         raw_request: Request | None = None,
     ):
@@ -84,10 +117,12 @@ async def _init_ctx(
         request_id = f"{self.request_id_prefix}-{self._base_request_id(raw_request)}"
         await self._check_model(request)
 
+        pooling_params = io_processor.create_pooling_params(request)
         ctx = PoolingServeContext(
             request=request,
             raw_request=raw_request,
             model_name=model_name,
+            pooling_params=pooling_params,
             request_id=request_id,
         )
 
@@ -175,7 +210,7 @@ async def _collect_batch(
         ctx.final_res_batch = [res for res in final_res_batch if res is not None]
 
     @abstractmethod
-    async def _build_response(
+    def _build_response(
         self,
         ctx: PoolingServeContext,
     ) -> Response:
@@ -362,18 +397,5 @@ def init_io_processor(
     ) -> PoolingIOProcessor:
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-    async def __call__(
-        self,
-        request: AnyPoolingRequest,
-        raw_request: Request | None = None,
-    ) -> Response:
-        ctx = await self._init_ctx(request, raw_request)
-        await self.io_processor.pre_process_online_async(ctx)
-
-        if ctx.pooling_params is None:
-            ctx.pooling_params = self.io_processor.create_pooling_params(request)
-
-        await self._prepare_generators(ctx)
-        await self._collect_batch(ctx)
-        await self.io_processor.post_process_online_async(ctx)
-        return await self._build_response(ctx)
+    def get_io_processor(self, request: AnyPoolingRequest) -> PoolingIOProcessor:
+        return self.io_processor
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/classify/serving.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/classify/serving.py
index 0a729075bce0..a48ec819b7fd 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/classify/serving.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/classify/serving.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class ServingClassification(PoolingServing):
     def init_io_processor(self, *args, **kwargs) -> ClassifyIOProcessor:
         return ClassifyIOProcessor(*args, **kwargs)
 
-    async def _build_response(
+    def _build_response(
         self,
         ctx: ClassificationServeContext,
     ) -> JSONResponse:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/io_processor.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/io_processor.py
index d7ee6ae5813f..09016253f09e 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/io_processor.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/io_processor.py
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ def _preprocess_cohere_text_completion(
             truncate_prompt_tokens=truncate_prompt_tokens,
             truncation_side=truncation_side,
         )
-        return self._preprocess_completion_online(
+        return self._preprocess_cmpl_online(
             proxy, prompt_input=proxy.input, prompt_embeds=None
         )
 
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ def pre_process_online(self, ctx: PoolingServeContext):
                 query=text_prompts[-1], docs=text_prompts[:-1]
             )
 
-            engine_inputs = self._preprocess_completion_online(
+            engine_inputs = self._preprocess_cmpl_online(
                 request,
                 prompt_input=prompt_input,
                 prompt_embeds=None,
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/serving.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/serving.py
index 3abf0c7f3fd4..9389309efc77 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/serving.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/embed/serving.py
@@ -53,15 +53,15 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
     def init_io_processor(self, *args, **kwargs) -> EmbedIOProcessor:
         return EmbedIOProcessor(*args, **kwargs)
 
-    async def _build_response(
+    def _build_response(
         self,
         ctx: PoolingServeContext,
     ) -> Response:
         if isinstance(ctx.request, CohereEmbedRequest):
             return self._build_cohere_response_from_ctx(ctx)
-        return await self._build_openai_response(ctx)
+        return self._build_openai_response(ctx)
 
-    async def _build_openai_response(
+    def _build_openai_response(
         self,
         ctx: EmbeddingServeContext,
     ) -> JSONResponse | StreamingResponse:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/pooling/serving.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/pooling/serving.py
index 3d16c1f2cc9d..ea8eff6eb30a 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/pooling/serving.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/pooling/serving.py
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@
 from functools import partial
 from typing import Literal, cast
 
-from fastapi import Request
 from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse, Response, StreamingResponse
 from typing_extensions import assert_never
 
 from vllm.entrypoints.openai.engine.protocol import UsageInfo
+from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.base.io_processor import PoolingIOProcessor
 from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.base.serving import PoolingServingBase
 from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.io_processor_factories import init_pooling_io_processors
 from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.pooling.protocol import (
@@ -57,27 +57,10 @@ def __init__(
         )
         self.json_response_cls = get_json_response_cls()
 
-    async def __call__(
-        self,
-        request: AnyPoolingRequest,
-        raw_request: Request | None = None,
-    ) -> Response:
+    def get_io_processor(self, request: AnyPoolingRequest) -> PoolingIOProcessor:
         assert isinstance(request, PoolingRequest)
         pooling_task = self._verify_pooling_task(request)
-
-        io_processor = self.io_processors[pooling_task]
-        ctx = await self._init_ctx(request, raw_request)
-
-        await io_processor.pre_process_online_async(ctx)
-
-        if ctx.pooling_params is None:
-            ctx.pooling_params = io_processor.create_pooling_params(request)
-
-        await self._prepare_generators(ctx)
-        await self._collect_batch(ctx)
-
-        await io_processor.post_process_online_async(ctx)
-        return await self._build_response(ctx)
+        return self.io_processors[pooling_task]
 
     def _verify_pooling_task(self, request: PoolingRequest) -> str:
         if getattr(request, "dimensions", None) is not None:
@@ -117,7 +100,7 @@ def _verify_pooling_task(self, request: PoolingRequest) -> str:
 
         return pooling_task
 
-    async def _build_response(
+    def _build_response(
         self,
         ctx: PoolingServeContext,
     ) -> Response:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/io_processor.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/io_processor.py
index 01c340d52525..549bae2775d5 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/io_processor.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/io_processor.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def _pre_process(
             scoring_data.data_2, "document", self.model_config
         )
 
-        return self._preprocess_completion_offline(
+        return self._preprocess_cmpl_offline(
             prompts=data_1 + data_2, tok_params=tok_params, prompt_extras=prompt_extras
         )
 
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ def _pre_process(
                 for q, d in zip(queries, docs)
             ]
 
-        return self._preprocess_completion_offline(
+        return self._preprocess_cmpl_offline(
             prompts=prompts, tok_params=tok_params, prompt_extras=prompt_extras
         )
 
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/serving.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/serving.py
index aef1a1fd0f1f..df866efd56ea 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/serving.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/scoring/serving.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ async def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs) -> Response:
 
         return await self.flash_late_interaction(*args, **kwargs)
 
-    async def _build_response(
+    def _build_response(
         self,
         ctx: ScoringServeContext,
     ) -> JSONResponse:
@@ -183,17 +183,15 @@ def _request_output_to_rerank_response(
     ### Can significantly improve late-interaction scoring performance.
 
     async def flash_late_interaction(self, *args, **kwargs) -> Response:
-        ctx = await self._init_ctx(*args, **kwargs)
-        ctx.pooling_params = self.io_processor.create_pooling_params(ctx.request)
-        await self.io_processor.pre_process_online_async(ctx)
+        ctx = await self._init_ctx(self.io_processor, *args, **kwargs)
+        await self._preprocessing_async(self.io_processor, ctx)
 
         # stage 1: encode queries and cache token embeddings on workers.
         await self._flash_late_interaction_encode_queries(ctx)
         # stage 2: encode docs and return scalar scores from workers.
         await self._flash_late_interaction_encode_docs(ctx)
 
-        await self.io_processor.post_process_online_async(ctx)
-        return await self._build_response(ctx)
+        return await self._postprocessing_async(self.io_processor, ctx)
 
     async def _flash_late_interaction_encode_queries(self, ctx: ScoringServeContext):
         assert ctx.n_queries is not None
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/typing.py b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/typing.py
index e485dd8722d5..0ce9d5c8384c 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/typing.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/pooling/typing.py
@@ -69,9 +69,9 @@ class PoolingServeContext(Generic[PoolingRequestT]):
     raw_request: Request | None = None
     model_name: str
     request_id: str
+    pooling_params: PoolingParams | list[PoolingParams]
     created_time: int = field(default_factory=lambda: int(time.time()))
     lora_request: LoRARequest | None = None
-    pooling_params: PoolingParams | list[PoolingParams] | None = None
     engine_inputs: Sequence[EngineInput] | None = None
     prompt_request_ids: list[str] | None = None
     intermediates: Any | None = None