Systems Architect

Apple; Beaverton (OR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company as a Systems Architect, where you will play a pivotal role in optimizing hardware performance across innovative products. This dynamic position involves collaborating with multi-functional teams to analyze and model performance characteristics of new workloads, including machine learning and gaming. You will be at the forefront of architectural decisions, working closely with creative professionals to drive future product innovations. If you are passionate about performance optimization and have a strong background in CPU and GPU architectures, this is the perfect opportunity to make a significant impact in a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in system level performance across hardware and software.
• Advanced degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science required.

Responsibilities

• Guide architecture tradeoff decisions and collaborate with multi-functional teams.
• Generate performance projections and assist in complex performance debug activities.

Skills

CPU architecture

GPU architecture

Machine Learning fundamentals

Performance analysis

C/C++ programming

Python programming

Software architecture

Communication skills

Education

MS Degree in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Computer Science

Job description

Systems Architect

Beaverton, Oregon, United States Hardware

Summary

Posted: Apr 09, 2025

Weekly Hours: 40

Role Number: 200598956

The people here at Apple don’t just create products — they create the kind of wonder that’s revolutionized entire industries! It’s the diversity of those people and their ideas that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. Join Apple and help us leave the world better than we found it. The Systems Performance Architecture team is responsible for modeling performance of Macs and iPads across a large suite of workloads prior to prototype builds, then ensuring those performance targets are met on the actual hardware through software optimizations, power tuning and bug fixes, as applicable. The team also provides various architecture support to the silicon engineering teams and is responsible for evaluating the performance and efficiency of hardware and system options for implementation across the product line of future designs being considered for the Mac and iPad. This includes evaluation of system and device level characteristics from low level device metrics (e.g. throughput, latency, caching/paging behaviors, power/efficiency, etc.) in the presence of operating systems, compiler, power management, and software interactions that ultimately determine the user’s experience on a Mac. The Systems Architects are involved in identifying performance bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and architectural improvement areas in hardware and software, and work with internal teams and external vendors on addressing them. They also drive critical initiatives bringing new capabilities to the products. Our team is collaborative, creative and passionate about what we do and the value we add in future product designs. Come join us!

Description

The Systems Performance Architect will collaborate with Architects to guide hardware performance analysis and modeling across Apple’s products and investigate performance and power characteristics of new workloads involving ML, gaming and professional content creation. In this highly collaborative and multi-functional role, you will be at the center of multiple efforts to accelerate and optimize future HW and the SW that drives it. We are looking for someone that is familiar with CPU, GPU and ML architectures and is passionate about identifying and optimizing performance bottlenecks. The key responsibilities of this role will entail:

1. Guiding architecture tradeoff decisions at an executive level
2. Interacting with various multi-functional teams to understand, model, and guide development.
3. Collaborating with creative professionals to develop new workflows that drive future architecture and product decisions.
4. Working with kernel-level and high level software features including working with 3rd party developers.
5. Collecting the findings from investigations and collaborating with SoC, HW, and SW architecture teams to provide insight for future silicon and products.
6. Generating performance projections for future systems
7. Assisting in complex performance debug activities.

Minimum Qualifications

• MS Degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science or equivalent years of experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of industry experience with system level performance spanning hardware (CPU, GPU, DRAM, storage), software (OS, drivers, applications)

Preferred Qualifications

• Solid understanding and experience in computer architecture
• Strong and proven software development and performance analysis skills
• Experience with performance on low level software and computer architecture.
• Passion for software architecture, APIs and high-performance extensible software
• Experience with system level performance spanning hardware (CPU, GPU, DRAM, storage), software (OS, drivers, applications), and other system characteristics (thermals, power, acoustics) is a plus.
• Understanding of machine learning fundamentals
• Understanding of GPU programming fundamentals using Metal, Vulkan or DirectX 12
• Proficiency in C/C++ and Python
• Strong communication and mentoring skills