Performance Architect

Simulator Development

Acceler8 Talent is partnering with a stealth-mode AI infrastructure startup building a new class of rack-scale inference systems for the next generation of large language models. Their custom hardware and software stack is designed from the ground up to eliminate bottlenecks in AI inference, combining innovative silicon with system-level architecture to deliver dramatically higher performance and efficiency at data center scale. You'll join a small, elite engineering team where your work will directly influence both the architecture and implementation of the company's core technology.

About the Role

We're looking for a Senior or Principal Performance Architect to develop the simulation infrastructure that drives architecture decisions across a next-generation AI platform. You'll build high-fidelity performance and functional models that enable rapid hardware-software co-design, evaluate architectural tradeoffs, and accelerate product development. This is a highly technical role with significant ownership and the opportunity to shape both the simulator and the underlying hardware architecture.

Leveling (Senior vs. Principal) is based on technical scope, ownership, and leadership rather than years of experience.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain processor simulators, including both functional and performance models.
• Model key microarchitectural components such as execution pipelines, memory hierarchies, interconnects, and accelerator subsystems.
• Generate, analyze, and curate workload traces to support meaningful architectural performance analysis.
• Evaluate simulation results to identify optimization opportunities and guide architectural decisions.
• Partner closely with hardware architects, RTL engineers, compiler developers, and software teams throughout the design process.
• Take ownership of core simulation infrastructure from initial concept through long-term production use in a fast-paced startup environment.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of software engineering experience in systems software, computer architecture, EDA, or a related domain.
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python, with experience contributing to large, complex codebases.
• Hands-on experience developing processor simulators, architectural models, or performance analysis frameworks, ideally including building simulators from the ground up.
• Solid understanding of modern computer architecture and microarchitecture concepts.
• Ability to independently solve challenging technical problems and make sound architectural decisions in an early-stage startup environment.
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset when working across hardware and software disciplines.

Nice to Have

• Experience with AI accelerators, GPUs, or heterogeneous computing architectures.
• Familiarity with simulation frameworks such as gem5, gem5-SALAM, or proprietary architectural modeling tools.
• Background in hardware-software co-design, compiler technologies, or performance optimization.