Principal Cloud & AI Workload Performance Analysis Engineer

AMD; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

AMD in Austin, Texas is seeking a systems-minded performance engineer to own workloads exposed to hyperscaler CPUs, AI systems and accelerator utilization. You will measure cloud-native performance, price-perf and memory bandwidth while explaining business implications.

You will work across containers, NUMA, interconnects and host-CPU effects, design fair experiments across CPU architectures, and produce decision-ready technical and executive reports.

Qualifications

• Strong Linux systems skills and proficiency with automation or scripting for deployment and analysis.
• Experience with containers, orchestration and cloud-native workloads at meaningful scale.
• Understanding of AI host-side bottlenecks, CPU-to-accelerator data movement, NUMA, memory bandwidth and interconnect effects.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain cloud-native and AI workload taxonomy for competitive analysis and forecasting.
• Design reproducible methods for web services, microservices, containers, scale-out data processing, caching, cloud infra and CPU-support functions in AI systems.
• Compare AMD, Intel, Arm and cloud-custom environments with aligned software versions and tuning policies.
• Analyze host-CPU impact on accelerator utilization, memory movement and end-to-end AI system throughput.
• Measure and model performance-per-watt and price-performance with defensible comparisons.
• Track compiler, kernel, libraries, orchestration and migration factors affecting Arm and cross-ISA deployability.
• Collaborate with architecture experts to explain bottlenecks and forecast scaling and risk.

Skills

Linux systems

Automation scripting

Containers & orchestration

Application profiling

AI system bottlenecks

Technical writing

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in electrical or computer engineering

Tools

Linux

Performance counters

Scripting

Job description

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. ADVANCE THE WORLD.

At AMD, we believe technology has the power to solve the world’s most important challenges. From advancing healthcare and scientific discovery to powering AI and the technologies people rely on every day, innovation at AMD is shaping the future.

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. ADVANCE THE WORLD.

At AMD, we believe technology has the power to solve the world’s most important challenges. From advancing healthcare and scientific discovery to powering AI and the technologies people rely on every day, innovation at AMD is shaping the future.

Whether you’re designing next-gen processors, enabling AI breakthroughs, or bringing leading edge products to market, every role at AMD contributes to something bigger — technology that moves the world forward. Join us and, together, we’ll advance your career.

The Team

The Competitive Advanced Performance (CAP) team is a new, visible capability focused on predicting, validating and explaining competitive server CPU performance before products reach the market. Joining now means helping define the methods, tools and operating model from the ground up.

THE ROLE:

AMD is looking for a systems-minded performance engineer to own the workloads most exposed to hyperscaler custom CPUs, Arm ecosystem momentum and AI-system architecture. You will measure and explain cloud-native performance, price-performance, performance-per-watt, software maturity and host-CPU effects on accelerator utilization. The work requires fair methods for comparing AMD EPYC with Intel, Arm Neoverse-based platforms, cloud-custom CPUs, NVIDIA Grace-class systems and other emerging designs.

THE PERSON:

You are curious at every layer of the system. You can move from containers, orchestration and application throughput down to NUMA placement, memory bandwidth, interconnect behavior and CPU-to-accelerator data movement - then explain the business consequence in a concise, evidence-based way. You care as much about deployability and software maturity as about a benchmark score.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Define and maintain the cloud-native and AI workload taxonomy used in competitive analysis and forecasting.
• Design reproducible methods for web services, microservices, containers, scale-out data processing, caching, cloud infrastructure and CPU-support functions in AI systems.
• Compare AMD, Intel, Arm and cloud-custom environments using aligned software versions, tuning policies, instance shapes and service-level objectives.
• Analyze host-CPU impact on accelerator utilization, input pipelines, communication overheads, memory movement, NUMA behavior and end-to-end AI system throughput.
• Measure and model performance-per-watt, density, utilization and price-performance where the inputs can be normalized defensibly.
• Track compiler, kernel, library, orchestration and migration factors that affect Arm and cross-ISA deployability.
• Work with architecture experts to explain memory, interconnect and platform bottlenecks behind observed results.
• Translate current scaling behavior and software trends into 24-36 month forecast inputs and early risk or advantage assessments.
• Develop cross-ISA methodology documentation that can withstand partner, customer and internal technical scrutiny.
• Support validation with approved cloud, OEM, ISV and ecosystem partners and produce decision-ready technical and executive reports.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Deep hands-on experience benchmarking and profiling cloud, distributed or accelerated-system workloads.
• Strong Linux systems skills and proficiency with automation or scripting for deployment and analysis.
• Experience with containers, orchestration and cloud-native workloads at meaningful scale.
• Ability to design fair experiments across dissimilar CPU architectures and platform configurations.
• Experience with application profiling, hardware performance counters and system telemetry.
• Understanding of AI host-side bottlenecks, CPU-to-accelerator data movement, NUMA, memory bandwidth and interconnect effects.
• Strong technical writing and presentation skills, plus the ability to collaborate with external partners and reproduce results outside one lab.

PREFERRED RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Hands-on experience with Arm Neoverse or cloud-custom Arm platforms.
• Experience benchmarking major cloud-service-provider instances and services.
• Experience measuring AI system throughput or accelerator utilization as a function of host-CPU and platform behavior.
• Familiarity with LPDDR or HBM-attached CPU systems, coherent CPU-accelerator links, high-speed networking or storage pipelines.
• Participation in MLCommons, OCP or other relevant benchmark or standards communities.

WHY THIS OPPORTUNITY STANDS OUT:

• Work at the intersection of cloud-native software, custom silicon and next-generation AI systems.
• Own full-stack investigations from application behavior to architecture and rack-level economics.
• Influence optimization and product discussions before competitive narratives are set.
• Build relationships and technical credibility across AMD, cloud providers and ecosystem partners.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:

• Bachelors or Masters degree in electrical or computer engineering

LOCATION:

Austin, Texas

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Benefits offered are described: AMD benefits at a glance.

AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third-party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position. AMD’s “Responsible AI Policy” is available here.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.