Principal Engineer, Data Center & Agentic AI CPU Architecture

Engg; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Engg in San Jose is seeking a Principal Engineer for Architecture & Performance Research focused on data center and agentic AI CPU. You will lead microarchitectural vision for next‑gen CPU cores (RISC‑V, ARM, x86), drive performance analyses with simulators and RTL, and guide trade‑offs from workload characterization to silicon validation.

Based in San Jose with daily onsite presence, you will mentor engineers, publish patents, and push AI‑driven design methodologies to advance future CPUs and

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field; 18+ years of experience or PhD with 15+ years of experience.
• Extensive experience in CPU microarchitecture, architecture research, or performance engineering.
• Proven ability to drive architectural direction and evaluate high-performance CPU architectures (RISC-V, ARM, x86).
• Strong quantitative analysis, modeling, and ability to translate workload insights into design decisions.
• Hands-on experience with simulators and RTL; capable of guiding RTL to silicon validation.
• Proficient in C/C++ and Python; developing tools for performance analysis.

Responsibilities

• Define the application-specialization direction for next-generation CPU cores (agentic AI, memory-centric architectures).
• Lead end-to-end performance analysis using architectural simulators and RTL.
• Translate workload characterization into architectural requirements and long-term design direction.
• Drive alignment from architecture to RTL and silicon with design teams.
• Mentor Senior and Staff engineers across multiple projects.
• Contribute to patents and publications.

Skills

CPU microarchitecture

Architecture research

Performance engineering

Quantitative analysis & modeling

C/C++ programming

Python programming

RTL implementation

Gem5 simulation

Education

Master’s degree in Computer Engineering/Computer Science

PhD in related field

Tools

Gem5

Job description

Engg in San Jose is seeking a Principal Engineer for Architecture & Performance Research focused on data center and agentic AI CPU. You will lead microarchitectural vision for next‑gen CPU cores (RISC‑V, ARM, x86), drive performance analyses with simulators and RTL, and guide trade‑offs from workload characterization to silicon validation.

Based in San Jose with daily onsite presence, you will mentor engineers, publish patents, and push AI‑driven design methodologies to advance future CPUs and