ML Accelerator Performance Validation Engineer, Post Silicon Validation

Amazon; Austin, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 144,000 - 194,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon’s Annapurna Labs in Austin, TX seeks an ML Accelerator Performance Validation Engineer to quantify and qualify the performance of AWS's custom ML training chips against architectural targets. You will bridge silicon capabilities with real-world ML workloads to ensure latency, throughput, and efficiency meet cloud-scale demands.

You will design benchmarks, profile workloads, identify bottlenecks, and build automated dashboards.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of non‑internship professional software development experience.
• 2+ years of non‑internship design or architecture experience.
• Experience with ML and LLM fundamentals, or PyTorch/JAX.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering/Math or equivalent, or experience in Java, C++, Python, or related language.
• 3+ years of experience with hardware performance counters and profiling tools.
• Strong understanding of computer architecture fundamentals (memory hierarchies, compute pipelines, interconnects).
• Experience with statistical methods, regression analysis, and data visualization to interpret performance data.
• 3+ years of full software development life cycle experience.
• Experience with CUDA kernels or ML low-level kernels or deploying LLMs on GPUs/accelerators.
• Knowledge of collective communications and scaling.
• Experience with HBM, PCIe, DMA bandwidth characterization.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute performance benchmarks spanning micro-architectures to full model training.
• Measure and analyze compute throughput, memory bandwidth, interconnect latency, and more.
• Profile real ML workloads (transformer models, LLMs, vision models) on silicon.
• Identify performance bottlenecks and work with architecture teams on optimization.
• Build automated performance regression dashboards and tracking infrastructure.
• Correlate silicon measurements against RTL simulation and emulation predictions.

Skills

Machine Learning fundamentals

Large Language Models

CUDA kernels

Java/C++/Python

Hardware performance profiling

Computer architecture

Data visualization

Software development lifecycle

LLM deployment on AI accelerators

Collective communications (AllReduce/​

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/Math or equivalent

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Job description

ML Accelerator Performance Validation Engineer, Post Silicon Validation

Annapurna Labs, an AWS organization with development centers in the U.S. and Israel, builds custom silicon and software for AWS customers. Our team combines cloud-scale innovation with world‑class expertise across silicon engineering, hardware design, verification, software, and operations to tackle technical challenges that have never been seen before.

Join our Post‑Silicon Validation team to quantify and qualify the performance of AWS’s custom ML training chips against architectural targets. You’ll bridge the gap between silicon capabilities and real-world ML workload demands — ensuring our accelerators deliver on latency, throughput, and efficiency promises at cloud scale.

You’ll work in a fast‑paced, startup‑like environment alongside some of the brightest minds in the industry on next generation AI/ML hardware that powers AWS’s training and inference infrastructure. Your analysis will directly shape architectural decisions for next‑generation accelerators and determine when silicon is ready for production deployment.

Key job responsibilities

• Design and execute performance benchmarks spanning micro‑architectures to full model training
• Measure and analyze compute throughput, memory bandwidth, interconnect latency, and more
• Profile real ML workloads (transformer models, LLMs, vision models) on silicon
• Identify performance bottlenecks and work with architecture teams on optimization
• Build automated performance regression dashboards and tracking infrastructure
• Correlate silicon measurements against RTL simulation and emulation predictions

A day in the life

My primary focus is measuring and understanding how our AI chips perform under real workloads. I spend mornings digging into benchmark results — figuring out where cycles are being lost and why throughput isn’t hitting targets. When something looks off, I instrument the hardware, profile the pipeline, and work with design teams to get it fixed. Some days I develop and run full training models end‑to‑end; others I build the dashboards that tell leadership whether silicon is ready to ship.

About the team

The MLA Post‑Silicon Validation team owns validation of AWS’s next‑generation ML training accelerators from first silicon through production deployment in AWS data centers. We sit at the intersection of hardware, firmware, and ML software — ensuring every layer of the stack performs, scales, and meets the quality bar. Our team culture values deep technical ownership, data‑driven decisions, and a bias for action. We operate with startup agility backed by AWS‑scale resources, and our work directly enables the cloud computing infrastructure that millions of customers rely on for AI/ML workloads.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of non‑internship professional software development experience
• 2+ years of non‑internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• Experience with Machine Learning and Large Language Model fundamentals, including architecture, training/inference lifecycles, and optimization of model execution, or experience working with PyTorch or JAX software
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or equivalent, or experience in Java, C++, Python, or a related language
• 3+ years of experience with hardware performance counters and profiling tools for analyzing and optimizing system and application performance
• Strong understanding of computer architecture fundamentals including memory hierarchies (caches, DRAM, HBM), compute pipelines, and interconnect topologies
• Experience applying statistical methods, regression analysis, and data visualization techniques to interpret performance data and drive optimization decisions
• 3+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• Experience with CUDA kernels or ML/low‑level kernels, or experience in developing and deploying LLMs in production on GPUs, Neuron, TPU or other AI acceleration hardware
• Knowledge of collective communications (AllReduce, AllGather) and scaling
• Experience with HBM, PCIe, and/or DMA bandwidth characterization

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign‑on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, TX, Austin – 143,700.00 – 194,400.00 USD annually