Embedded CPU Performance Architect, Platform Architecture

Apple Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking an Embedded CPU Performance Architect to define CPUs for embedded applications across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other Apple products. You will model improvements balancing performance, power, and area, collaborating with designers to implement feasible solutions.

You will analyze workloads, correlate RTL with CPUs performance simulators, and help drive data-driven decisions to boost team productivity while tackling varied, challenging use cases.

Qualifications

• Experience in CPU and SOC architecture.
• Experience with performance simulation environments.
• OO programming in C/C++.
• Perl or Python scripting experience.
• Expertise in CPU microarchitecture areas: branch prediction, prefetching, pipeline optimization, datapath, memory hierarchy.
• 20+ years of industry experience.
• Understanding of data structures and algorithms.
• Familiarity with SIMD, vector, or accelerator architectures.
• Power-performance trade-offs in CPU designs and low-power design techniques.

Responsibilities

• Drive performance and efficiency optimization for embedded CPUs across Apple products.
• Collaborate with CPU designers to assess feasibility of ideas through modeling.
• Correlate RTL with performance simulators to ensure target meeting and model accuracy.
• Analyze workloads to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement.

Skills

CPU architecture

Performance simulation

C/C++ OO

Perl/Python scripting

Branch prediction

SIMD/Vector

Data structures

Power optimization

20+ years experience

Education

MS/PhD in EE/CE/CS

Job description

Embedded CPU Performance Architect, Platform Architecture

Do you get more energy from the hardest problem in the room than the easiest one? Do you want a hand in shaping the CPUs that run quietly inside nearly every Apple product from the one your iPhone relies on to capture the perfect photo, to the one guarding your Apple Watch? The CPU Platform Architecture team exists to push the limits of power-efficient CPU performance, and we hold ourselves to a standard most teams wouldn’t bother with. We’re a tight-knit group obsessed with squeezing every drop of performance out of every milliwatt, bringing together deep expertise in microarchitecture, ISA definition, performance modeling, power modeling, and workload analysis.We’re looking for a highly motivated and innovative Embedded CPU Architect to join us. In this role, you’ll drive performance and efficiency optimization and explore architectural features for Apple’s embedded CPUs that power critical functions across Apple’s entire product line.

Description

As an Embedded CPU Performance Architect, you will help define CPUs that are specifically designed for running embedded applications across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and many other Apple products. Your focus will be to seek out areas for improvement in the unique constraints of varied embedded use cases, and model solutions that balance performance, power efficiency, and area.To do this you will collaborate with experienced CPU designers in micro-architecture and RTL to assess the feasibility of ideas through modeling and refine those ideas to make them implementable. You will also correlate RTL with the CPU performance simulator to ensure that the design meets targets and that the model is accurate. The role requires the analysis of specific workloads across a wide variety of existing and new product categories to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement. We collaborate as a larger CPU architecture and performance team to maintain and improve the simulation and correlation environments to enable data driven decisions and look for ways to boost the productivity of the entire team.

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience in CPU and SOC architecture and micro-architecture
• Experience with performance simulation environments
• Object-oriented programming skills in C/C++
• Experience in a scripting language such as Perl or Python

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in CPU microarchitecture in one or more of the following areas: branch prediction, prefetching, pipeline optimization, datapath, memory hierarchy
• 20+ years of relevant industry experience
• MS or PhD in Electrical or Computer Engineering or Computer Science
• Understanding of common data structures and algorithms
• Familiarity with SIMD, vector, or accelerator architectures
• Understanding of: power-performance trade-offs in CPU designs, system-level power management, and low-power design techniques
• Comfortable in an environment of uncertainty and able to navigate through ambiguities
• Experience in a research-driven environment

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.
Learn about accessibility in Apple’s workplace
Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants