Principal SoC Architect, Robotics and Automotive

NVIDIA Corporation; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 272,000 - 489,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

NVIDIA Corporation in Santa Clara is seeking a Principal SoC Architect to define hardware that unifies NVIDIA GPUs, vision accelerators, and real-time processors for Edge AI, robotics, and autonomous driving platforms. You will drive architecture across micro-architecture to software layers.

The role emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaboration, safety awareness, and production support for tier-1 robotics and automotive customers. Advanced degrees preferred.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of deep architecture design experience in high-performance silicon.
• Expertise in top-level SoC definition and architecture.
• Experience with robotics and automotive I/O interfaces (PCIe, TSN).
• Knowledge of RTOS, deterministic latency, and real-time compute.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end SoC lifecycle from concept to bring-up.
• Collaborate with software, DL and safety teams on hardware features.
• Model performance, power, area; optimize for automotive enclosures.
• Write architecture specs and develop validation models.
• Lead post-silicon debug, tuning and customer support.

Skills

SoC Architecture

RTOS & Real-Time

Cross-Functional Leadership

SystemC

C++ Programming

Education

Master’s or PhD in Computer or Electrical Engineering

Tools

SystemC

Python

C++

Job description

Principal SoC Architect – NVIDIA

NVIDIA is seeking a Principal SoC Architect to join our architecture team and drive the next generation of Edge AI, Robotics, and Autonomous Driving platforms. NVIDIA is developing processor and system architectures that power the world’s most advanced autonomous machines—from factory-floor AMRs and humanoids running NVIDIA Isaac, to next-generation software-defined vehicles running NVIDIA DRIVE. In this position, you will own the architectural definition of SoCs that bring together NVIDIA GPUs, world-class computer vision accelerators, and real-time processors into a single silicon fabric. Your role will be inherently cross-disciplinary, bridging the gap between pioneering robotic applications, automotive safety standards, and silicon design.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• End-to-End SoC Lifecycle Ownership: Define and drive the hardware architecture from early concept through bring-up and ecosystem enablement.
• Robotics & Automotive Co-Design: Collaborate with software, deep learning, and safety teams to co-design hardware feature sets tailored for low-latency robotics spatial computing, sensor fusion, and autonomous driving pipelines.
• PPA Modeling & Analysis: Perform rigorous performance, power, and area modeling, optimizing specifically for thermally constrained robotic enclosures and automotive ECUs.
• Specification & Modeling: Author high-quality architecture specifications and drive the development of models to validate architectural choices.
• Architectural Validation: Define validation plans to ensure hardware meets strict real-time execution and safety metrics.
• Post-Silicon & Production Support: Participate in silicon debug, performance tuning, and the generation of user documentation for tier-1 robotics and automotive customers.

What We Need to See:

• Experience: 15+ years of deep architecture design experience in high-performance silicon.
• SoC Architecture Expertise: Meaningful industry expertise in top-level SoC definition.
• Robotics & Automotive I/O: Practical knowledge of high-speed interfaces (PCIe, GMSL/Camera interfaces, Time-Sensitive Networking/TSN).
• Advanced Subsystems: Multimedia/vision accelerator pipelines, CPU/GPU cache coherency, Virtualization, and Hardware Security.
• Deterministic & Real-Time Compute: Deep understanding of hardware support for real-time operating systems (RTOS), deterministic latency, and mixed-criticality workloads.
• Cross-Functional Technical Leadership: Exceptional ability to communicate, negotiate, and solve technical hurdles across all abstraction levels—from micro-architecture to software application layers.
• Education: Master’s or PhD degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Ways to Stand Out from the Crowd:

• Experience in functional safety and building end to end solutions fulfilling safety requirements
• A proven background in mapping complex Edge AI workloads (e.g., transformer-based vision models, SLAM, or path planning) directly onto custom hardware architectures.
• Advanced programming skills in SystemC, C++, or Python for architectural simulation and modeling.

Compensation and Benefits

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 272,000 USD - 431,250 USD for Level 6, and 320,000 USD - 488,750 USD for Level 7. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits. Applications for this job will be accepted at least until July 18, 2026. This posting is for an existing vacancy. NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

Diversity & Inclusion

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you're creative, autonomous and love a challenge, we want to hear from you!