Principal Software Engineer

Acceler8 Talent; Santa Clara, Northern (CA, KY); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Acceler8 Talent is seeking a Senior or Principal Simulator Engineer to join a stealth-mode startup in Santa Clara, onsite. You will design and maintain processor simulators for AI inference systems, collaborating with cross-disciplinary teams to advance high-performance AI infrastructure.

The role requires 5+ years in systems software or computer architecture, strong C/C++ and Python skills, and experience with simulator frameworks like gem5 or similar tools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering in systems software, computer architecture, or EDA environments.
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python.
• Experience with processor simulators, architectural models, or performance analysis tools.
• Familiarity with hardware-software co-design or compiler technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain processor simulators, including performance and functional models.
• Build detailed models of pipelines, memory hierarchies, interconnects, and hardware accelerators.
• Generate and curate traces for accurate performance analysis and architectural evaluation.
• Analyze simulation results to drive architecture decisions and optimizations.
• Collaborate with hardware, architecture, and compiler teams in a fast-paced co-design environment.
• Own simulation infrastructure from concept to production deployment.

Tools

gem5

gem5-SALAM

Performance modeling tools

Job description

Sr/Principal Simulator Engineer – Simulator Developer

Santa Clara, CA (Onsite)

I am seeking a Senior or Principal Simulator Engineer – Simulator Developer to join a well-funded, stealth-mode startup developing next-generation AI inference systems for data center-scale deployments. This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of computer architecture, hardware-software co-design, and high-performance systems, helping shape the future of AI infrastructure.

Backed by leading venture capital investors, the team is building a highly differentiated hardware and software platform designed to maximize efficiency for serving cutting-edge AI models at scale.

What You ll Do:

• Design, develop, and maintain processor simulators, including both performance and functional models
• Build detailed models of microarchitectural components such as pipelines, memory hierarchies, interconnects, and hardware accelerators
• Generate and curate traces for accurate performance analysis and architectural evaluation
• Analyze simulation results to drive key architecture decisions and system optimizations
• Collaborate closely with hardware, architecture, and compiler engineering teams in a fast-paced co-design environment
• Own critical simulation infrastructure from concept through production deployment
• Contribute to the design of next-generation AI computing platforms built for large-scale inference

What We\'re Looking For:

• 5+ years of software engineering experience within systems software, computer architecture, or EDA environments
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python
• Experience developing processor simulators, architectural models, or performance analysis tools from the ground up
• Strong understanding of computer architecture and microarchitecture
• Ability to work independently and take ownership within an early-stage startup environment
• Experience with AI accelerators, GPUs, or heterogeneous computing systems
• Familiarity with simulation frameworks such as gem5, gem5-SALAM, or proprietary architectural modeling tools
• Background in hardware-software co-design or compiler technologies

This is an opportunity to have a direct impact on the architecture of next-generation AI infrastructure, working alongside a small team of highly experienced engineers solving some of the most challenging problems in high-performance computing and AI systems.

If you\'d like to find out more, remove this call to action.

Ethan Lewis

[e-mail]

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