Senior Principal NPU Architect for Automotive AI

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Renesas Electronics seeks a Sr Principal NPU Architect to define and lead the next generation of AI acceleration technologies for automotive HPC platforms. You will shape the architectural vision, hardware-software co-design strategy, and roadmap for NPUs across MCU/MPU and heterogeneous compute platforms.

The role requires deep expertise in AI accelerator architecture, system-level design, memory hierarchies, interconnects, and compiler-aware software.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of semiconductor architecture experience including AI accelerators and NPUs.
• Ownership of architecture from definition through silicon execution.
• Proven track record leading cross-functional HW/SW initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Define the long-term architectural vision and roadmap for Renesas AI acceleration tech.
• Lead development of next-generation NPU architectures for automotive inference, edge AI, and software-defined vehicles.
• Collaborate with compiler, runtime, and AI software teams to optimize the execution stack.
• Ensure security, safety and virtualization in NPU architecture from concept through implementation.

Skills

AI accelerator architecture

System-level design

Memory hierarchy

Interconnect architecture

Compiler/software collaboration

C++

SystemC/TLM

AXI/ACE/CHI

LLVM/MLIR/ONNX/TensorFlow/PyTorch

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in EE/CE/CS

PhD preferred

Tools

C++

SystemC/TLM

AXI/ACE/CHI

LLVM

MLIR

ONNX

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Job description

Renesas Electronics seeks a Sr Principal NPU Architect to define and lead the next generation of AI acceleration technologies for automotive HPC platforms. You will shape the architectural vision, hardware-software co-design strategy, and roadmap for NPUs across MCU/MPU and heterogeneous compute platforms.

The role requires deep expertise in AI accelerator architecture, system-level design, memory hierarchies, interconnects, and compiler-aware software.