Principal Architect, Performance Analysis and Modeling - Santa Clara, United States
Originally posted 25 August 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on emerging hardware technologies (DIMC, D2D, 3D-DRAM) and emerging workloads (generative inference, multi-modal LLMs).
About the role
This Principal Architect role focuses on performance analysis and modeling across the hardware/software boundary of AI inference accelerators. You will work with emerging hardware technologies (DIMC, D2D, 3D-DRAM) and emerging workloads (generative inference, multi-modal LLMs) to build analytical models and simulation tools.
What you'll do
- Analyze emerging ML workloads, multi-modal LLMs, CoT reasoning models, and video/audio generation to identify performance-relevant properties.
- Build and maintain analytical performance models that project behavior on current and future d-Matrix hardware generations.
- Develop and extend architecture simulators to support performance analysis of proposed HW/SW features.
- Partner with hardware design, compiler, inference server, kernel, and product teams to validate modeling assumptions and surface downstream implications.
- Track relevant ML architecture and algorithms research and incorporate findings into modeling work.
- Propose targeted HW/SW feature improvements based on modeling results and workload analysis.
What you'll need
- BSEE with 6+ years of industry experience, or MSEE with 4+ years of industry experience.
- Working knowledge of computer architecture, HW/SW co-design, performance modeling, and ML fundamentals (particularly DNNs).
- Programming fluency in C/C++ or Python.
- Experience building or working with analytical performance models or architecture simulators.
Nice to have
- Experience optimizing AI/ML workloads on accelerator technologies.
- Research and investigation in AI/ML architecture/microarchitecture.
Skills: ML workloads, LLMs, performance models, architecture simulators, HW/SW co-design, AI accelerator
This role has been open 35 days — well below the 71-day median for AI/ML Hardware Engineering roles.
AI/ML Hardware Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
501
|
Median days open
71 d
|
Median salary
$225k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | d-Matrix | All employers we track in this specialty (501 roles · 76 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 2 | 501 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 18 | 5943 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 63 d | 71 d (−8 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $225k |
Skills observed across this category: ML workloads, LLMs, performance models, architecture simulators, HW/SW co-design, AI accelerator
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 106 open roles · median 104 d
- NVIDIA · 81 open roles · median 67 d
- AMD · 42 open roles · median 64 d
- Micron Technology · 29 open roles · median 54 d
- Mobileye · 20 open roles · median 67 d
- Analog Devices · 14 open roles · median 33 d
How we counted: 501 open AI/ML Hardware Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 76 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 30 Sept 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 Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.