CPU Performance Research Engineer - Santa Clara, California, United States of America
$167,000 - $250,600 USD yearly
Originally posted 2 June 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a CPU Performance Research Engineer in Qualcomm's CPU Performance Architecture group, you will participate in research on novel CPU architectures and disruptive performance ideas well ahead of product definition. You will evaluate CPU performance features, model them, and collaborate with the design and RTL teams on implementation feasibility.
What you'll do
- Collaborate with CPU Performance Architecture and RTL team members to identify opportunities for product improvement. - Perform self-guided exploratory studies to evaluate new CPU performance ideas and novel microarchitectures. - Analyze workloads to identify performance bottlenecks and opportunities. - Prototype features in a CPU architectural performance model. - Work with RTL and design teams to assess implementation cost for new features. - Collaborate with the performance team to maintain and improve the simulation environment for increased productivity.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Architecture, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field with 4+ years of relevant engineering experience; OR Master's degree with 3+ years; OR PhD with 2+ years. - 2+ years of CPU Architecture work experience. - 2+ years of programming experience with C, C++, or similar languages.
Nice to have
- MS or PhD degree in Computer Architecture with 4 years of practical experience. - Proficiency in one or more areas of CPU architecture: fetch, decode, branch prediction, renaming, execute units, SIMD, load/store, MMU, caches, or retire. - Experience working in a performance modeling environment. - Proficiency in C, C++, and scripting languages such as Perl or Python. - Knowledge of OS internals and compiler technology. - Knowledge and experience with common performance benchmarks and workloads.
Skills: CPU Performance Architecture, microarchitectures, performance model, RTL, simulation environment
This role has been open 142 days — well above the 78-day median for SoC/Chip Architecture roles.
SoC/Chip Architecture · SOC Architecture
|
Open roles in category
473
|
Median days open
78 d
|
Median salary
$239k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Qualcomm | All employers we track in this specialty (473 roles · 67 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 80 | 473 |
| Open roles in the wider Digital Design & Verification family | 423 | 3322 · 115 employers |
| Median days open | 82 d | 78 d (+4 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $239k |
Skills observed across this category: CPU Performance Architecture, microarchitectures, performance model, RTL, simulation environment
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm (this employer) · 80 open roles · median 82 d
- NVIDIA · 52 open roles · median 69 d
- Apple · 37 open roles · median 16 d
- AMD · 36 open roles · median 73 d
- Arm Holdings · 27 open roles · median 121 d
- Micron Technology · 21 open roles · median 100 d
How we counted: 473 open SoC/Chip Architecture (SOC Architecture) roles from 67 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 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.