Senior Engineer, Architecture & Performance Research Engineer for Data Centerand Agentic AI CPU

Samsung Semiconductor Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Samsung Semiconductor Inc. in San Jose is seeking a Senior CPU Architecture & Performance Engineer to drive microarchitectural research for data‑center workloads and agentic AI CPUs. You will model performance, collaborate with RTL teams, and turn ideas into validated silicon designs.

Expect ownership across front‑end to back‑end exploration and pioneering methodologies. The role emphasizes AI‑driven workflows, collaboration with senior engineers, and contribution to publications while shaping

Qualifications

• Master's with Computer Architecture, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 3+ years in CPU microarchitecture or performance engineering; PhD appreciated.
• Hands-on with architectural simulators such as gem5.
• Proficiency in C/C++ and Python.

Responsibilities

• Lead microarchitectural research for next‑gen CPU architectures and workloads.
• Develop and refine performance models and validate ideas on silicon.
• Collaborate with RTL design teams from modeling to silicon validation.
• Apply AI‑driven design methodologies to accelerate exploration.
• Analyze IPC, CPI, latency, and throughput to identify bottlenecks.
• Contribute to patents and technical publications.

Skills

C/C++ proficiency

Python proficiency

Collaborative mindset

Education

Master's degree in Computer Architecture or Computer Engineering

PhD in related field (advantage)

Tools

gem5

Job description

Please Note:

To provide the best candidate experience amidst our high application volumes, each candidate is limited to 10 applications across all open jobs within a 6-month period.

Advancing the World's Technology Together

Our technology solutions power the tools you use every day--including smartphones, electric vehicles, hyperscale data centers, IoT devices, and so much more. Here, you'll have an opportunity to be part of a global leader whose innovative designs are pushing the boundaries of what's possible and powering the future.

Senior Engineer, Architecture & Performance Research Engineer for Data Center and Agentic AI CPU

What You'll Do

Architecture Research Lab is focused on researching next-generation CPU (RISC-V) microarchitecture and performance for emerging computing workloads. We explore new architectural ideas, evaluate their performance potential, and rapidly turn promising concepts into working designs that can be validated on real silicon. Our research is driven by emerging opportunities in data center and agentic AI workloads, where we investigate how CPU architecture can evolve to meet new performance and efficiency requirements. We also explore CPU‑memory co‑design from the CPU perspective, in alignment with the broader shift toward memory‑centric architectures. A distinctive aspect of our team is the way we approach architecture research. We develop and apply AI‑driven methodologies to accelerate architectural exploration, broaden the design space we can investigate, and quickly iterate from ideas to implementation and silicon validation. Rather than simply following established design flows, we continuously seek new ways to explore, evaluate, and realize CPU architectures. The role offers an opportunity to work across the full spectrum of architecture research‑from workload and performance analysis, microarchitectural innovation, and architectural modeling to implementation and silicon validation‑while helping shape new methodologies for how future CPUs are designed.

Location:

Daily onsite presence at our San Jose office in alignment with our Flexible Work policy

As a Senior CPU Architecture & Performance Engineer, you will drive both microarchitectural research and performance modeling for next‑generation CPU architectures. You will analyze emerging workloads, develop and refine performance models, identify architectural opportunities, and turn quantitative insights into new microarchitectural concepts. You will work closely with RTL design teams to evaluate, refine, and implement promising ideas, taking them from architectural modeling through RTL and silicon validation. The role offers significant ownership in shaping new CPU architectures and determining which ideas can deliver meaningful performance gains in real hardware.

• Collaborate with Staff and Principal Engineers, owning a specific microarchitectural domain from idea proposal through implementation and validation


• Participate in design implementation and validation using AI‑driven design methodologies


• Run architectural simulations and performance models, and analyze results such as IPC, CPI stacks, latency, and throughput


• Identify performance bottlenecks and optimization opportunities across the front‑end, mid‑end, and back‑end


• Characterize workloads and benchmarks to understand performance behavior and architectural opportunities


• Develop scripts and tools to automate and accelerate performance analysis and architectural exploration


• Contribute to patents and technical publications based on novel architectural research

What You Bring

• Master's with Computer Architecture, Computer Engineering, or a related field and


• 3+ years of experience or PhD degree in Computer Architecture, Computer Engineering, or a related field


• 1+ years of experience in CPU microarchitecture or performance engineering


• Strong understanding of out‑of‑order execution, branch prediction, pipelines, speculation, and cache/memory systems


• Hands‑on experience with architectural simulators such as gem5


• Proficiency in C/C++ and Python

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with RISC-V, ARM, or x86 CPU cores, or with GPU/NPU vector unit design


• Experience with or interest in AI‑driven or agentic design workflows


• Understanding of execution patterns and characteristics of agentic AI workloads


• Domain‑specific experience in the front‑end, mid‑end, or back‑end areas described above


• Experience with PPA trade‑off analysis


• Experience with CPU tape‑out or silicon validation


• Experience with patents or technical publications related to CPU


• You're inclusive, adapting your style to the situation and diverse global norms of our people.


• You approach challenges with curiosity and resilience, seeking data to help build understanding.


• You're collaborative, building relationships, humbly offering support and openly welcoming approaches.


• Innovative and creative, you proactively explore new ideas and adapt quickly to change

#LI-SF1

What We Offer

The pay range below is for all roles at this level across all US locations and functions. Paywithin this range varies by work locationand may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills,and experience. We also offer incentive opportunities that reward employees based on individual and company performance. This is in addition to our diverse package of benefits centered around the wellbeing of our employees and their loved ones. In addition to the usual Medical/Dental/Vision/401k, our inclusive rewards plan empowers our people to care for their whole selves. An investment in your future is an investment in ours.

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