Performance Engineer Jobs in Santa Clara, CA

NVIDIA is redefining accelerated computing and powering the next era of artificial intelligence. Our data-center platforms bring together GPUs, CPUs, networking, systems, and software to solve some of the world’s most exciting computing problems. We are looking for a System Software Engineer to join NVIDIA’s GPU Performance and Power Management Software team. You will help design, develop, and debug production software for performance states (P-states) and Power Management Controllers. Your work will also support dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) and power-management technologies for next-generation data-center GPUs.

You will work at the intersection of hardware architecture, embedded firmware, device drivers, operating systems, and AI workloads. In this role, you will contribute across the product lifecycle, including design, pre-silicon development, validation, silicon bring-up, and production support. This is a great opportunity to build expertise in GPU power and performance software while contributing to products that deliver leading performance, energy efficiency, and reliability.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Design, build, implement, and debug GPU power- and performance-management software, with emphasis on P-state management and DVFS.
• Develop control policies and software mechanisms that optimize GPU performance, power, thermals, and energy efficiency under demanding data-center workloads.
• Support features through full product lifecycle: requirements, architecture, implementation, pre-silicon validation, silicon bring-up, productization, and production support.
• Collaborate with GPU architects and hardware designers to define and implement hardware-software interfaces for next-generation processors.
• Analyze interactions among workloads, clocks, voltages, power limits, thermals, telemetry, and system-level policies.
• Investigate, triage, and resolve power, performance, stability, and reliability issues spanning firmware, drivers, hardware, and platform software.
• Help execute validation strategies and automation for functional correctness, transition latency, performance-per-watt, and robustness across operating conditions.
• Write clear technical documentation, interface definitions, for features.
• Partner with distributed teams across architecture, ASIC, firmware, driver, validation, platform, and data-center systems.

What We Need to See:

• BS or MS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 2+ years of relevant industry experience, or strong coursework, internship, co-op, or project experience in system software.
• Strong programming skills in C, with the ability to develop, debug, and maintain low-level kernel software.
• Good understanding of operating-system fundamentals, computer architecture, device-driver architecture, embedded or real-time software, concurrency, interrupt handling, and hardware programming
• Ability to independently debug and analyze across multiple layers of software and hardware.
• Ability to read and understand hardware specifications and software interface definitions.
• Strong problem-solving skills and willingness to learn from and work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Ways to Stand Out From the Crowd:

• Hands-on, Internship or project experience with GPU, CPU, accelerator, or SoC power and performance management.
• Coursework or project work in computer architecture, operating systems, control systems, or power/performance optimization.
• Exposure to P-states, DVFS, clock control, voltage control, thermal management, or workload-aware system behavior.
• Familiarity with validation, scripting or automation, and telemetry analysis for low-level software features. Strong understanding of hardware-software interactions.
• Experience with AI tools leverage for SW engineering work - coding, validation, automation workflows

Widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers, NVIDIA offers highly competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package. As you plan your future, see what we can offer to you and your family www.nvidiabenefits.com

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 124,000 USD - 195,500 USD for Level 2, and 152,000 USD - 241,500 USD for Level 3.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until October 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.