Lead SoC Performance Architect
$272,900 - $409,300 USD yearly
Originally posted 16 October 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on performance and power modeling for the fabric NoC, DRAM controller, and IO blocks for server-class SoCs.
About the role
As a Lead SoC Performance Architect, you will create performance and power models for the fabric NoC, DRAM controller, and IO blocks for server-class SoCs. This involves correlating models against RTL behavior and prototyping ideas for future SoC designs.
What you'll do
- Conduct RTL performance verification, including creating verification plans and tests.
- Develop SoC performance/power models for blocks like interconnect NoCs, distributed system caches, memory controllers, and IO controllers.
- Verify model correctness by writing unit-tests and debugging mismatches.
- Identify ideas for improving SoC performance/power characteristics and prototype them in models.
- Work with architects and RTL developers to productize identified improvements.
What you'll need
- 8 years of experience in SoC performance/power modeling.
- Strong grasp of computer architecture fundamentals, especially interconnects, traffic QoS, distributed caches, coherency flows, DRAM controller, and IO (PCIe) flows.
- Proficient in C and Perl / Python.
- Exposure to performance analysis and debug.
- Ability to independently identify, troubleshoot, and solve performance problems.
Nice to have
- 10 years of experience in CPU / SoC performance/power modeling, Performance Validation.
- Proficient in IP/SoC level performance validation between RTL and performance models.
- Expertise in analyzing and debugging performance shortfalls in RTL environment.
- Exposure to testing and debugging performance issues post-silicon environments.
- Demonstrable experience in productizing features that improve performance/power characteristics of a design.
Skills: CPU / SoC performance/power modeling, Performance Validation, RTL, performance shortfalls, SoC performance/power model, interconnect NoCs
This role has been open 0 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 | Qualcomm | All employers we track in this specialty (468 roles · 65 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 75 | 468 |
| Open roles in the wider Digital Design & Verification family | 383 | 3198 · 115 employers |
| Median days open | 84 d | 80 d (+4 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $236k |
Skills observed across this category: CPU / SoC performance/power modeling, Performance Validation, RTL, performance shortfalls, SoC performance/power model, interconnect NoCs
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm (this employer) · 71 open roles · median 86 d
- NVIDIA · 56 open roles · median 69 d
- Apple · 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.