Sr. Principal SoC Architect (AI2501) - San Jose, California, United States
$231,100 - $358,200 USD yearly
Originally posted 13 May 2026 by the employer.
Define MLSoC platforms and HW/SW co-design for embedded edge AI, automotive, and humanoid robotics workloads.
About the role
SiMa.ai is seeking a senior architect to lead its SoC architecture and help define silicon and software architecture targeting automotive and humanoid robotics markets. The role focuses on developing embedded edge machine learning system-on-chip (MLSoC) platforms spanning computer vision to generative AI workloads.
What you'll do
- Drive end-to-end SoC architecture, system partitioning, and third-party IP strategy in collaboration with Silicon and Software Engineering. - Architect MLSoC platforms that balance performance, power, cost, and programmability for GenAI, robotics, and real-time AI systems. - Drive HW/SW co-design and critical trade-offs across silicon, firmware, system software, compilers, and runtime stacks. - Establish a data-driven performance architecture methodology to analyze workload bottlenecks across CNNs and transformers. - Define platform software architecture requirements including virtualization, safety islands, isolation, and system orchestration. - Author architectural specifications, whitepapers, and technical analyses to guide hardware and software implementation.
What you'll need
- PhD or MS in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science with 20+ years of experience developing hardware products and platforms optimized for performance and power. - At least 3 years of experience in the architecture and tape-out of complex ML SoCs on advanced process nodes from concept to production. - Proven track record as a significant contributor to silicon product delivery involving tightly integrated hardware and software. - Strong mathematical foundation in machine learning and deep learning. - Authorship or co-authorship of technical presentations, research papers, disclosures, or patents on SoC-related topics. - Experience working directly with silicon engineering and software teams to productize architectural concepts.
Skills: SoC architecture, MLSoC platforms, performance architecture, HW/SW Co-Design, architectural innovations
This role has been open 111 days — well above the 77-day median for SoC/Chip Architecture roles.
SoC/Chip Architecture · SOC Architecture
|
Open roles in category
475
|
Median days open
77 d
|
Median salary
$238k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | SiMa.ai | All employers we track in this specialty (475 roles · 66 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 1 | 475 |
| Open roles in the wider Digital Design & Verification family | 11 | 3283 · 116 employers |
| Median days open | 111 d | 77 d (+34 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $238k |
Skills observed across this category: SoC architecture, MLSoC platforms, performance architecture, HW/SW Co-Design, architectural innovations
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 76 open roles · median 87 d
- NVIDIA · 55 open roles · median 70 d
- Apple · 38 open roles · median 13 d
- AMD · 34 open roles · median 63 d
- Arm Holdings · 27 open roles · median 118 d
- Micron Technology · 22 open roles · median 110 d
How we counted: 475 open SoC/Chip Architecture (SOC Architecture) roles from 66 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 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.