Hardware Compiler Engineer

Touchdown Labs, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Touchdown Labs seeks a Hardware Compiler Engineer to join their Santa Clara team. You will work on compiler infrastructure, lowering passes, and memory planning to map AI workloads onto novel hardware architectures.

The role emphasizes C++ development, MLIR/LLVM, and accelerator targets within a collaborative environment. Responsibilities include owning compiler passes, performance regression, and contributing to cross-functional hardware feedback.

Qualifications

• Proficient in compiler engineering with MLIR/LLVM.
• Experience targeting accelerators, FPGAs, or HLS.
• Strong C++ with compiler passes/backends experience.

Responsibilities

• Own compiler passes and lowering for active experiments.
• Measure results against models and baselines; document gaps for hardware.
• Develop and maintain compiler tests and performance regression suites.

Skills

C++

MLIR/LLVM

Compiler passes

Accelerator/HLS

Dataflow/Memory/Parallelism

Tools

Triton internals

TVM internals

Job description

Careers · Reconfigurable compute & AI EDA# Hardware Compiler EngineerBuild compilers that map AI workloads onto new hardware.**Location:** Santa Clara, CAAll roles →Apply for this role →---SeniorSanta ClaraOpenings: 1–2Open role## Hardware Compiler Engineer### Our missionAI is becoming fundamental to how the world works. When it is, the ability to compute, and to manufacture the hardware that computes, should not be concentrated in a few places. Touchdown's mission is to make compute accessible to the whole world and to reindustrialize advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. We co-design everything for next-generation compute: the AI systems people use, the software that serves them, the architectures and chips underneath, and the packaging, test, and manufacturing that make them real. Co-design brings down the complexity and cost of building compute. That is what makes manufacturing in America competitive again, and what puts compute within reach of people and companies everywhere. We build alongside the world's best manufacturing ecosystems, including Taiwan's, and every role here makes one layer better and carries what it learns to the rest.### Why this role mattersHardware is only as useful as the software that can target it. Compilers connect AI workloads to new architectures, and their feedback shapes the architecture itself.### Technical scopeCompiler infrastructure (MLIR, LLVM); intermediate representations and lowering; scheduling, tiling, and memory planning; mapping workloads onto parallel and dataflow hardware; performance modeling and regression testing; co-design feedback to architecture and RTL teams.### First 90 days* Take ownership of compiler work on active experiments.* Measure results against models and baselines.* Document gaps for the hardware team.### What you will own* Compiler passes and lowering.* Scheduling and memory planning.* Compiler testing and performance regression.### What you bring* Compiler engineering in MLIR or LLVM.* Experience targeting accelerators, FPGAs, or HLS.* Strong C++.* Has built compiler passes or backends for accelerators, GPUs, or FPGAs.* Understands how dataflow, memory hierarchy, and parallelism affect code generation.### Helpful experience* Triton or TVM internals### How we work* AI-native by default. You use coding agents, AI-assisted analysis, and automation every day, and you check their output against measurements before anyone relies on it.* We work alongside foundries, test houses, OSATs, and research labs, and we build with partners rather than against them.### How the role works* Full-time.* Location: Santa Clara, CA.* Openings: 1–2.* Pay: $185,000–$245,000 base (Santa Clara, CA).* Ranges are base pay for U.S. roles and depend on location, experience, and level. Full-time roles also include equity and benefits. Taiwan pay is set to the local market and discussed in the first call.* Start date and employment details are discussed during the process.Apply for this role →Applications are reviewed against the work described here. We do not use a degree, title, or keyword list as a substitute for evidence.