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Senior CPU Performance Architect

Intel Corporation
September 19, 2026
Full-time
On-site
Austin, Texas, United States
SoC Architecture Jobs, Level - Senior

Job Title

Senior CPU Performance Architect

Role Summary

Responsible for defining and delivering CPU microarchitecture specifications and performance models for high-performance and low-power CPU products. Works with cross-functional teams to invent and evaluate microarchitectural approaches, analyze performance and power, and resolve performance issues from model to silicon.

Experience Level

Senior-level. This role requires substantial industry experience in high-performance CPU design, performance modeling, and post-implementation performance debug; see Education Requirements for degree and years guidance.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include:

  • Define end-to-end CPU microarchitecture specifications for modular, scalable CPU designs.
  • Evaluate feasibility tradeoffs and propose novel microarchitectural approaches.
  • Model CPU performance and power characteristics and identify bottlenecks using representative workloads.
  • Collaborate with architects, design, verification, and validation teams throughout the product lifecycle.
  • Specify mitigations and refinements during feature implementation to improve design and overcome constraints.
  • Participate in debugging and resolving performance miscorrelation between models, RTL, and silicon.
  • Drive performance tuning from exploration through post-silicon validation.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience:

  • Proven experience designing high-performance CPUs and expertise in one or more domains: branch prediction; fetch/decode; rename/allocation; reservation stations/execution; memory subsystem or prefetchers and uncore interactions.
  • Strong background in microarchitecture, RTL, and logic development.
  • Experience debugging microarchitecture and simulation issues.
  • Extensive experience with cycle-accurate CPU performance simulators (C++ preferred).
  • Advanced programming skills in C++/STL and scripting languages.
  • Ability to write assembly and create tests to evaluate and debug microarchitectural features; ability to read and debug RTL performance issues.

Preferred:

  • Experience taking CPU features from pathfinding and definition through RTL correlation and post-silicon debug/tuning.
  • Experience identifying microarchitectural features that improve IPC and working with KPI-driven workloads.

Education Requirements

Minimum education and experience specified: Master's degree plus 10+ years of relevant experience, or PhD (dissertation in a CPU performance domain) plus 6+ years of relevant experience. The posting also specifies 8+ years of continuous work with cycle-accurate C++ CPU performance simulators and experience on high-performance, high-frequency ARM or x86 CPU performance teams.


About the Company

Company: Intel Corporation

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

Intel Corporation is a leading multinational technology company known for its innovative semiconductor solutions, including microprocessors, artificial intelligence accelerators, and memory products. Headquartered in the United States, Intel focuses on cutting-edge technology and a collaborative working environment, driving advancements in semiconductor manufacturing to meet global demands. The company emphasizes professional development and aims to shape the future of technology through groundbreaking designs.

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Date Posted: 2026-09-17