Principal Enterprise & Database Competitive Performance Engineer

AMD; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AMD in Austin, TX seeks an end-to-end performance engineer to own enterprise and database workloads, tuning and diagnosing CPU, memory, and software interactions. You will compare AMD EPYC with Intel Xeon and evaluate Arm platforms entering enterprise use cases, delivering reproducible results and clear technical communication.

You will build methods, runbooks and reports that highlight lead areas, risks and mitigations, while supporting post-launch analysis and future forecasts.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on performance engineering experience with enterprise or server applications at scale.
• Experience with relational or distributed databases, Java or JVM performance, analytics engines, virtualization or hypervisors.
• Demonstrated ability to tune full software stacks and distinguish CPU limitations from storage, network, runtime and configuration artifacts.
• Strong Linux and system-administration skills, including scripting and repeatable environment setup.
• Experience with profiling tools, hardware performance counters, NUMA analysis and system-level tuning.
• Strong understanding of throughput, latency, scaling, saturation, consolidation and service-level metrics.
• Clear technical writing and presentation skills, with high standards for benchmark fairness, documentation and reproducibility.
• Hands-on experience with both Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC enterprise platforms.
• Experience with Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SAP, Java application servers, analytics platforms or major virtualization stacks.
• Knowledge of software licensing and TCO dynamics that interact with CPU performance and consolidation.
• Experience with industry benchmark suites or customer, OEM or ISV performance labs.
• Cross-ISA enterprise workload experience on Arm.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain an enterprise workload taxonomy spanning relational databases, Java, analytics, virtualization, consolidation and other priority server applications.
• Develop rigorous methods for throughput, latency, tail latency, scale-up and scale-out behavior, consolidation and service-level objectives.
• Analyze AMD versus Intel performance with attention to core configuration, frequency and power behavior, acceleration features, memory capacity and bandwidth, and platform setup.
• Evaluate compiler, JVM, database, kernel and library tuning so comparisons reflect realistic deployment choices rather than accidental configuration gaps.
• Use profiling and counters to explain CPU stalls, memory behavior, locks and contention, NUMA placement, storage or network dependencies and software bottlenecks.
• Measure performance-per-watt, consolidation and platform or rack TCO drivers where licensing and density matter.
• Translate bottleneck evidence into future architecture and performance assumptions with the architecture and forecasting teams.
• Maintain configuration manifests, runbooks and methodology control so results can withstand peer, partner and customer scrutiny.
• Create deep-dive technical reports and concise executive content showing AMD lead areas, risk areas, root causes and possible mitigations.
• Support fast post-launch analysis and use measured results to improve future forecasts.

Skills

Performance engineering

Relational databases

Java / JVM

Linux administration

Profiling tools

NUMA analysis

System tuning

Benchmarking

Cross-ISA (Arm)

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science

Tools

Oracle

SQL Server

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Java application servers

Analytics platforms

Virtualization stacks

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 seeking an end-to-end performance engineer to own the enterprise and database workloads where CPU behavior, memory hierarchy, software tuning, consolidation and platform economics determine competitive outcomes. You will be the team's primary workload authority for AMD EPYC versus Intel Xeon and will also evaluate Arm platforms as they enter enterprise use cases. The role combines deployment, tuning, profiling, root-cause analysis, reproducibility and clear technical communication.

The Person

You do more than operate benchmarks. You can tune a full software stack, diagnose why a result changed, separate CPU limits from storage, network, runtime and configuration effects, and build a method that another lab can reproduce. You understand that the most useful result is not simply who won, but which mechanisms drove the outcome and

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain an enterprise workload taxonomy spanning relational databases, Java, analytics, virtualization, consolidation and other priority server applications.
• Develop rigorous methods for throughput, latency, tail latency, scale-up and scale-out behavior, consolidation and service-level objectives.
• Analyze AMD versus Intel performance with attention to core configuration, frequency and power behavior, acceleration features, memory capacity and bandwidth, and platform setup.
• Evaluate compiler, JVM, database, kernel and library tuning so comparisons reflect realistic deployment choices rather than accidental configuration gaps.
• Use profiling and counters to explain CPU stalls, memory behavior, locks and contention, NUMA placement, storage or network dependencies and software bottlenecks.
• Measure performance-per-watt, consolidation and platform or rack TCO drivers where licensing and density matter.
• Translate bottleneck evidence into future architecture and performance assumptions with the architecture and forecasting teams.
• Maintain configuration manifests, runbooks and methodology control so results can withstand peer, partner and customer scrutiny.
• Create deep-dive technical reports and concise executive content showing AMD lead areas, risk areas, root causes and possible mitigations.
• Support fast post-launch analysis and use measured results to improve future forecasts.

Preferred Experience

• Extensive hands-on performance engineering experience with enterprise or server applications at scale.
• Experience with relational or distributed databases, Java or JVM performance, analytics engines, virtualization or hypervisors.
• Demonstrated ability to tune full software stacks and distinguish CPU limitations from storage, network, runtime and configuration artifacts.
• Strong Linux and system-administration skills, including scripting and repeatable environment setup.
• Experience with profiling tools, hardware performance counters, NUMA analysis and system-level tuning.
• Strong understanding of throughput, latency, scaling, saturation, consolidation and service-level metrics.
• Clear technical writing and presentation skills, with high standards for benchmark fairness, documentation and reproducibility.
• Hands-on experience with both Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC enterprise platforms.
• Experience with Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SAP, Java application servers, analytics platforms or major virtualization stacks.
• Knowledge of software licensing and TCO dynamics that interact with CPU performance and consolidation.
• Experience with industry benchmark suites or customer, OEM or ISV performance labs.
• Cross-ISA enterprise workload experience on Arm.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out

• Own business-critical workloads where deep diagnosis directly affects product, optimization and customer decisions.
• Connect microarchitectural behavior to real enterprise outcomes such as consolidation, latency and software cost.
• Build methods and proof points that can be validated across AMD and partner environments.
• Expand your influence across architecture, software, product management, field engineering and ecosystem partners.

Academic Credentials

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineer, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field

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.