Principal GPU Driver & System Engineer

European Tech Recruit; Cambourne; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

European Tech Recruit are working closely with a leading fabless semiconductor company based in Cambourne to recruit a Principal GPU Driver & System Engineer. You will architect, develop, and optimize driver features for Vulkan, DirectX, OpenGL ES and OpenCL, while delving into kernel-mode drivers and firmware to boost stability and performance.

You will analyze bottlenecks, collaborate with architecture and compiler teams, and lead complex debugging efforts across the GPU software stack to

Qualifications

• Experience of building GPU drivers, graphics systems, or low-level systems software.
• Fluent in C/C++ and comfortable working close to hardware.
• Deep expertise in industry-standard APIs such as Vulkan, DirectX 12, OpenCL or OpenGL ES.
• Understand GPU internals including memory hierarchies, command submission, scheduling, synchronization, pipeline architecture, and performance bottlenecks.
• Ability to work across API design, kernel drivers, firmware, compiler interaction and hardware architecture.

Responsibilities

• 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.
• Identify, analyze, and eliminate bottlenecks across the stack — including driver overhead, memory bandwidth, GPU scheduling, compute throughput, and power/performance tradeoffs.
• Partner 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 raise the technical bar across the GPU driver team.
• Contribute across the entire GPU software stack beyond API layer, kernel driver, and firmware.

Skills

C/C++

Low-level programming

Tools

Vulkan

DirectX 12

OpenGL ES

OpenCL

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.

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