Performance Modelling Engineer

European Tech Recruit; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

European Tech Recruit in Cambridge is seeking an experienced Performance Modelling Engineer to join a CPU Architecture team working on next‑generation processor technologies. You will build and refine performance models and contribute to data-driven design decisions.

The role involves developing cycle-accurate and statistical simulators, analysing power and performance, and collaborating with CPU architects and software engineers to optimise microarchitectures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
• 4+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Hands-on experience in CPU performance modelling and microarchitecture analysis.
• Familiarity with cycle-accurate, cycle-approximate or functional simulators.
• Understanding of CPU pipelines and common architectural performance metrics.
• Working knowledge of Python for scripting and data analysis.
• Strong analytical, communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience with CPU power models and cache-system models.
• Strong software engineering background covering design, coding, testing and debugging.
• Knowledge of Arm architectures such as Armv8-A or Armv9-A.
• Experience with microarchitecture performance counters.
• Hardware/software co-optimisation experience.
• Exposure to RTL or SystemC simulation.
• Broader system architecture or system software knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and improve performance models for CPU microarchitectures.
• Maintain and develop cycle-accurate, trace-driven and statistical simulation environments.
• Analyse the performance and power implications of proposed CPU features.
• Conduct architectural trade-off and cost-benefit analysis.
• Develop methodologies and automated workflows for performance analysis.
• Create visualisations and analytical tools to identify CPU performance bottlenecks.
• Collaborate with CPU architects, software engineers and performance modelling specialists.

Skills

CPU performance modelling

Microarchitecture analysis

Cycle-accurate simulators

Arm architectures (Armv8-A/Armv9-A)

Python scripting

Data analysis

Collaboration & communication

Hardware/software co-optimisation

RTL / SystemC exposure

CPU power models / cache models

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

SystemC

CPU simulators

Job description

Visa: Visa sponsorship is not available for this contractor position.

About the Role

Our client is looking for Performance Modelling Engineers to join a CPU Architecture team working on next-generation processor technologies.

You will use modelling, simulation and workload-characterisation techniques to evaluate potential CPU hardware designs and provide data-driven insights that influence future architectural features.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement and improve performance models for CPU microarchitectures.
• Maintain and develop cycle-accurate, trace-driven and statistical simulation environments.
• Analyse the performance and power implications of proposed CPU features.
• Conduct architectural trade-off and cost-benefit analysis.
• Develop methodologies and automated workflows for performance analysis.
• Create visualisations and analytical tools to identify CPU performance bottlenecks.
• Collaborate with CPU architects, software engineers and performance modelling specialists.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
• 4+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Hands-on experience in CPU performance modelling and microarchitecture analysis.
• Familiarity with cycle-accurate, cycle-approximate or functional simulators.
• Understanding of CPU pipelines and common architectural performance metrics.
• Working knowledge of Python for scripting and data analysis.
• Strong analytical, communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience with CPU power models and cache-system models.
• Strong software engineering background covering design, coding, testing and debugging.
• Knowledge of Arm architectures such as Armv8-A or Armv9-A.
• Experience with microarchitecture performance counters.
• Hardware/software co-optimisation experience.
• Exposure to RTL or SystemC simulation.
• Broader system architecture or system software knowledge.