Software Design Engineer - GPU Kernel Optimization - CA, San Jose, United States
Originally posted 14 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a senior technical member of the team, you will design, develop, and optimize high-performance GPU kernels for LLM and other ML models, analyzing performance bottlenecks to maximize compute efficiency, memory bandwidth utilization, and overall GPU performance.
What you'll do
- Lead the optimization of LLMs, quantized models, and emerging AI workloads for AMD GPU architectures.
- Design, implement, profile, and optimize GPU kernels with a focus on maximizing hardware utilization and application performance.
- Perform deep performance characterization across compute, memory bandwidth, cache hierarchy, synchronization, kernel scheduling, and execution efficiency.
- Develop compiler-level optimizations and code-generation techniques using LLVM, MLIR, and related technologies.
- Build AI-powered coding agents and automation workflows for kernel generation, optimization, benchmarking, and validation.
- Collaborate with GPU architecture, compiler, library, and framework teams to develop scalable solutions and advance GPU performance.
What you'll need
- Strong experience in GPU programming, performance analysis, and system software development.
- Strong C++ and/or Python skills.
- Solid understanding of GPU compute, memory hierarchy, cache behavior, synchronization, and performance bottlenecks.
- Strong experience developing and optimizing GPU kernels using HIP, CUDA, C/C++, or similar technologies.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in computer engineering, computer science, or a related field.
Nice to have
- Analytical/problem-solving skills.
- Attention to details.
- Self-starter, able to independently drive tasks to completion.
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 61-day median for Systems Software Engineering roles.
Systems Software Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
681
|
Median days open
61 d
|
Median salary
$217k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | AMD | All employers we track in this specialty (681 roles · 73 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 64 | 681 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 409 | 6164 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 50 d | 61 d (−11 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $217k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 163 open roles · median 77 d
- NVIDIA · 137 open roles · median 47 d
- AMD (this employer) · 59 open roles · median 54 d
- Mobileye · 27 open roles · median 69 d
- Broadcom · 21 open roles · median 50 d
- Arm Holdings · 20 open roles · median 111 d
How we counted: 681 open Systems Software Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 73 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 14 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 Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.