Principal Power Architect

Ampere; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 182,000 - 273,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited Flextime

10+ paid holidays

Premium medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401K retirement plan

Job summary

Ampere is seeking a Principal Power Architect to drive power modeling, analysis, optimization, and validation across CPU, AI accelerator, memory, I/O, and interconnect designs. The role touches architecture, RTL, firmware, and silicon, requiring strong CMOS fundamentals and experience turning workload data into design decisions.

The candidate will lead pre- and post-silicon power activities, develop automation and data pipelines, and collaborate across teams to optimize power, performance, and

Qualifications

• Experience in semiconductor power analysis, modeling, or silicon validation.
• Strong CMOS power fundamentals and power-reduction techniques.
• Knowledge of CPU, AI accelerator, memory, I/O, interconnect workloads.

Responsibilities

• Define power targets, budgets, operating points and optimization strategies.
• Develop and maintain power models across RTL and silicon.
• Characterize workloads to identify power and performance bottlenecks.

Skills

Power analysis

CMOS fundamentals

Workload characterization

RTL power analysis

Python scripting

C/C++

AI workloads

Education

Bachelor's degree + 8 years experience

Master's degree + 6 years experience

PhD + 3 years experience

Tools

Spyglass

Power Artist

Joules

PrimePower

Job description

Description

Invent the future with us.

Ampere is a semiconductor design company for a new era, leading the future of computing with an innovative approach to CPU design focused on high-performance, energy efficient AI compute.

As a pioneer in the new frontier of energy efficient high-performance computing, Ampere is part of the Softbank Group of companies driving sustainable computing for AI, Cloud, and edge applications.

Join us at Ampere and work alongside a passionate and growing team-we’dlove to have you apply!

About The Role

Ampere is looking for a Principal Power Architect to drive power modeling, analysis, optimization, management, convergence, and validation across CPU, AI accelerator, memory, I/O, and interconnect designs.

This role works across architecture, microarchitecture, RTL, implementation, firmware, validation, and silicon.

The ideal candidate has strong CMOS fundamentals and experience turning workloads, power data, and architectural tradeoffs into actionable design decisions.

The role may include pre-silicon power analysis, post-silicon characterization, power-management feature enablement, power modeling and power attainment.

What You’ll Achieve

• Define power targets, budgets, operating points, and optimization strategies for CPU, AI accelerator, and SoC blocks.
• Develop and maintain architectural, activity-based, RTL, gate-level, emulation, and silicon power models.
• Set up and run RTL- and gate-level power analysis, develop benchmarks and tests, and review results for opportunities at the architecture, RTL, synthesis, and implementation levels.
• Characterize CPU, memory, PCIe, networking, storage, AI training, and AI inference workloads to identify power and performance bottlenecks.
• Drive power/performance/area/thermal tradeoff studies and power convergence across design & implementation phases.
• Develop automation, data-processing flows, dashboards, and analysis scripts using Python, TCL, Perl, or similar languages.
• Use AI for productivity to accelerate workload characterization, power modeling, anomaly detection, regression analysis, test generation, documentation, and power-management decisions.
• Validate AI-generated results against engineering data and design requirements.
• Drive power-management techniques including clock gating, power gating, DVFS, adaptive voltage scaling, retention, low-power modes, and workload-aware power management
• Lead or support post-silicon power and voltage-frequency characterization across domains and blocks.
• Work with ATE, production, firmware, validation, and systems teams on power management settings, AVS, voltage-frequency specifications, silicon binning, and SKU definition.
• Correlate pre-silicon estimates with silicon measurements, investigate gaps, and improve models and methodologies.
• Communicate findings, drive closure, and build consensus across architecture and design, verification, physical design, firmware, performance, and product teams.

About You

• Experience in semiconductor power analysis, modeling, optimization, power management, workload characterization, or silicon validation.
• Strong understanding of CMOS power fundamentals and power-reduction techniques.
• Knowledge of CPU, AI accelerator, memory, I/O, interconnect, and processor workload behavior.
• Experience with RTL and gate-level power-analysis tools and methodologies; familiarity with tools such as Spyglass, Power Artist, Joules, PrimePower, or equivalent is useful.
• Experience with emulation, FPGA, silicon measurement, telemetry, or power/performance correlation is valuable.
• Experience with voltage-frequency characterization, AVS, silicon binning, SKU definition, or Power-management firmware is a plus.
• Strong programming and scripting skills in Python; Tcl, Perl, C/C++, shell, SQL, or data-analysis tools are helpful.
• Experience using AI for productivity in silicon design
• Strong analytical, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
• Bachelor's degree & 8 years of related experience; or master’s degree & 6 years; or PhD & 3 years

What We’ll Offer

At Ampere we believe in taking care of our employees and providing a competitive total rewards package that includes base pay, cash long-term incentive, and comprehensive benefits.

The full base pay range for this role is between $182,000 and $273,000, except in the San Francisco Bay Area where the range is between $195,000 and $292,000.

Our benefits include health, wellness, and financial programs that support employees through every stage of life.

Benefit Highlights Include

• Premium medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, as well as income protection and a 401K retirement plan, so that you can feel secure in your health and financial future.
• Unlimited Flextime and 10+ paid holidays so that you can embrace a healthy work-life balance.
• A variety of healthy snacks, energizing espresso, and refreshing drinks to keep you fueled and focused throughout the day.

And there is much more than compensation and benefits. At Ampere, we foster an inclusive culture that empowers our employees to do more and grow more. We are excited to share more about our career opportunities with you through the interview process.

Ampere is an inclusive and equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, religion, age, veteran and/or military status, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical or mental disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law.