Senior Applied Research Engineer, Accelerator Algorithms

Job Title

Senior Applied Research Engineer, Accelerator Algorithms

Role Summary

Drive applied research and algorithm architecture for NVIDIA's Programmable Vision Accelerator (PVA). Analyze real-world autonomous vehicle (AV) and physical AI workloads, prototype accelerator-friendly algorithms, and translate findings into requirements for hardware, compilers, SDKs, and systems software.

Experience Level

Senior — requires substantial experience; the posting specifies 12+ years of relevant experience.

Responsibilities

Work with cross-functional teams to evaluate and optimize algorithms for a VLIW/SIMD programmable accelerator and influence future hardware and software design.

• Research and characterize AV and physical AI workloads to identify candidates for PVA acceleration.
• Develop and optimize algorithms using instruction-level parallelism, memory-aware scheduling, efficient data movement, and vectorized execution.
• Translate workload and algorithm insights into requirements for PVA hardware, compilers, SDKs, profiling tools, and systems software.
• Build prototypes, benchmarks, and performance models to evaluate algorithm performance across current and future architectures.
• Use AI-assisted development tools and agentic workflows to accelerate analysis, prototyping, and benchmarking.
• Collaborate with internal teams and customers to integrate PVA-accelerated algorithms into products to meet performance, power, and latency targets.
• Publish, present, and communicate technical findings across research and engineering teams when appropriate.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills, experience, and attributes for successful performance in this role.

• 12+ years of experience in applied research, programmable accelerator algorithm design, computer architecture, or high-performance computing.
• Experience with DSP, SIMD, VLIW, fixed-point arithmetic, memory hierarchy, and low-level performance optimization.
• Experience with HW/SW co-design, workload characterization, performance modeling, benchmarking, and bottleneck analysis.
• Familiarity with emerging physical AI workloads such as very large attention (VLA) models, multimodal perception, sensor processing, autonomous systems, or robotics.
• Strong programming skills in C++, Python, CUDA, or similar environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to explain complex tradeoffs clearly.
• Demonstrated ownership, technical judgment, and ability to operate in ambiguous problem spaces.

Nice-to-have:

• Hands-on experience with ROS/ROS2, AV or robotics middleware, sensor processing frameworks, profiling tools, and heterogeneous compute pipelines.
• Strong research track record in computer architecture, autonomous systems, or sensor processing.
• Familiarity with safety-conscious development processes such as ISO 26262 or IEC 61508.

Education Requirements

BS/MS or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

About the Company

Company: NVIDIA

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, renowned for its innovative solutions in AI and digital twins that transform diverse industries. The company specializes in networking technologies, providing end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions for servers and storage that optimize performance and scalability. NVIDIA serves sectors such as high-performance computing, enterprise data centers, and cloud computing, constantly reinventing its products and services to stay ahead in the market.