Principal GPU Driver & System Engineer

European Tech Recruit; Cambourne; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

European Tech Recruit seeks a Principal GPU Driver & System Engineer in Cambourne to architect, develop, and optimize driver features for Vulkan, DirectX 12, OpenGL ES, and OpenCL across the software stack. You will work deep in kernel‑mode drivers and GPU firmware to improve hardware control and performance.

You will collaborate with Architecture, Micro‑architecture, Compiler, and Model teams to influence future GPU design and ensure software fully exploits hardware capabilities.

Qualifications

• Experience building GPU drivers or low-level graphics software.
• Fluent in C/C++ and comfortable working close to hardware.
• Deep expertise in Vulkan, DirectX 12, OpenCL, or OpenGL ES.
• Understanding of GPU internals including memory hierarchies, command submission, scheduling, and bottlenecks.
• Ability to work across API design, kernel drivers, firmware, compiler interactions, and hardware architecture.

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and optimize features for Vulkan, DirectX, OpenGL ES, and OpenCL APIs.
• Work deep in kernel-mode drivers and GPU firmware to improve hardware control, stability, and performance.
• Identify and eliminate bottlenecks across the stack, including scheduling and memory bandwidth.
• Collaborate with Architecture, Micro-architecture, Compiler, and GPU Model teams to influence future GPU design.
• Lead complex debug efforts, mentor engineers, and raise the technical bar across the GPU driver team.
• Work across the entire GPU software stack beyond API layer and drivers.

Skills

C/C++

GPU driver development

Graphics systems

Low-level systems

Vulkan

DirectX 12

OpenGL ES

OpenCL

Kernel-mode

Tools

GPU driver toolchains

Firmware debugging tools

Job description

European Tech Recruit are working closely with a leading fabless semiconductor company, based in Cambourne, who are looking for a talented Principal GPU Driver & System Engineer to join their team.

Responsibilities as Principal GPU Driver & System Engineer:

• Architect, develop, and optimize features for industry-standard APIs including Vulkan, DirectX, OpenGL ES, and OpenCL.
• Work deep in kernel-mode drivers and GPU firmware to improve hardware control, stability, scheduling, memory management, and execution efficiency.
• dentify, analyze, and eliminate bottlenecks across the stack — including driver overhead, memory bandwidth, GPU scheduling, compute throughput, and power/performance tradeoffs.
• Partner closely with Architecture, Micro-architecture, Compiler, and GPU Model teams to influence next-generation GPU design and ensure the software stack fully leverages the hardware.
• Lead complex debug efforts, guide design decisions, mentor engineers, and help raise the technical bar across the GPU driver team.
• You are not restricted to only the API layer, kernel driver, firmware, or performance. You can work across the entire GPU software stack.
• Your software insights will directly influence next-generation GPU architecture and micro-architecture.
• Your contributions will help turn silicon capability into real-world graphics, compute, and AI performance.

Required:

• Experience of building GPU drivers, graphics systems, or low-level systems software.
• You are fluent in C/C++ and comfortable working close to hardware.
• You have deep expertise in one or more industry-standard APIs such as Vulkan, DirectX 12, OpenCL, or OpenGL ES.
• You understand GPU internals at a deep level, including memory hierarchies, command submission, scheduling, synchronization, pipeline architecture, and performance bottlenecks.
• You enjoy working across boundaries — from API design to kernel drivers, firmware, compiler interaction, and hardware architecture.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background in GPU performance analysis, firmware, virtualization, compiler, or runtime optimization for GPUs or accelerators.
• Familiarity with ML/AI workloads, DNN operators and their mapping onto GPU or accelerator architectures.
• Experience collaborating with architects, micro-architects, compiler, and model teams.

If this role is of any interest please apply directly on LinkedIn or send a copy of your CV to [e-mail].

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