CPU Performance Architect, Platform Architecture - Beaverton, United States
Originally posted 6 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role is for a CPU Performance Architect focusing on CPU micro-architecture within the CPU Architecture and Performance Team. The team is driving advanced exploration for iPhone, iPad, and Mac CPU architectures, pushing boundaries in branch prediction, code/data prefetchers, novel prediction schemes, and CPU pipeline optimization.
What you'll do
- Conceive novel performance ideas using micro-architecture knowledge and performance bottleneck analysis. - Collect data and measurements to confirm or rule out performance improvement ideas. - Collaborate with CPU designers to assess feasibility and refine ideas for implementation. - Analyze single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads to identify bottlenecks and opportunities. - Maintain and improve the simulation environment to enable data-driven decisions. - Look for ways to boost the productivity of the CPU architecture and performance team.
What you'll need
- BS degree - Experience with CPU architecture and micro-architecture - Experience conceiving novel performance ideas using micro-architecture knowledge and performance bottleneck analysis on relevant workloads - Experience working with design and implementation teams to iterate on ideas to solve timing and power efficiency challenges and fit them into system constraints - Experience in performance and/or power simulation environments, such as taking ideas from concept to C/C++ simulator implementation - Experience in scripting languages such as Perl or Python
Nice to have
- 20+ years of relevant industry experience - MS or PhD in Electrical or Computer Engineering or Computer Science - Understanding of common data structures and algorithms - Knowledge in software design patterns - Familiarity with SIMD and vector architectures - Knowledge of OS internals and compiler technologies
Skills: CPU architecture, micro-architecture, performance bottleneck analysis, simulation environments, workloads
This role has been open 10 days — well below the 80-day median for SoC/Chip Architecture roles.
SoC/Chip Architecture · SOC Architecture
|
Open roles in category
468
|
Median days open
80 d
|
Median salary
$236k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Apple | All employers we track in this specialty (468 roles · 65 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 36 | 468 |
| Open roles in the wider Digital Design & Verification family | 67 | 3204 · 115 employers |
| Median days open | 10 d | 80 d (−70 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $236k |
Skills observed across this category: CPU architecture, micro-architecture, performance bottleneck analysis, simulation environments, workloads
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 71 open roles · median 86 d
- NVIDIA · 56 open roles · median 69 d
- Apple (this employer) · 36 open roles · median 10 d
- AMD · 35 open roles · median 65 d
- Arm Holdings · 27 open roles · median 113 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 21 open roles · median 115 d
How we counted: 468 open SoC/Chip Architecture (SOC Architecture) roles from 65 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 16 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Digital Design & Verification family row. Figures refresh nightly.
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