Senior Software Developer Jobs in Santa Clara, CA
Senior Software Developer jobs in Santa Clara are concentrated in the Central Expressway corridor, the Great America tech campus area, and the stretch along Tasman Drive, with demand running deepest across semiconductor, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise software sectors. Employers actively hiring right now include NVIDIA, Palo Alto Networks, and Qualcomm. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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We are now looking for a Senior Software Engineer for Agent Simulation & Evaluation! Today, NVIDIA is tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPUs act as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what’s never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world’s best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you’ll be immersed in a diverse, encouraging environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work.
Demand for inference is growing rapidly, driven by reasoning models, coding agents, parallel subagents, and long-horizon tool use. These workloads are increasing the complexity of how AI systems must be evaluated, simulated, and optimized across different accelerator platforms. We are looking for an AI-native engineer who can combine a strong understanding of model architectures with performance analysis across GPU and LPU systems. You will use agentic methods to streamline simulation, evaluation, and critical engineering workflows for the LPU organization, helping NVIDIA develop a deeper understanding of emerging AI workloads and how they map to future hardware.
What you will be doing:
Building agentic systems that automate simulation, evaluation, performance analysis, and reporting.
Developing tools that configure experiments, run evaluations, analyze results, identify regressions, and recommend follow-up work.
Analyzing the inference characteristics of LLMs, reasoning models, coding agents, multimodal models, and agentic harnesses.
Building and validating performance models for GPU, LPU, and heterogeneous GPU–LPU systems.
Collaborating with inference, hardware, runtime, compiler, evaluation, and product teams to improve simulation quality and accelerate engineering decisions.
Automating critical LPU workflows such as benchmarking, workload characterization, capacity planning, and release qualification.
What we need to see:
Strong experience building AI agents or AI-backed engineering systems.
Familiarity with modern model architectures and AI inference workloads.
Experience evaluating AI models or agents and analyzing performance.
Experience with simulation, profiling, benchmarking, or performance modelling.
Strong Python skills and experience building reliable engineering tools.
MS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
5+ years of relevant software development experience.
2 years of experience building AI agents or building AI-backed engineering systems.
Ways to stand out from the crowd:
Experience using coding agents such as Codex, Claude Code, or similar tools to automate technical workflows.
Knowledge of GPU or accelerator architecture, distributed inference, or high-performance computing.
Open-source projects demonstrating agentic AI, evaluation, or performance-engineering applications.
A rigorous analytical approach to experimentation, data collection, and validation.
NVIDIA is widely considered one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you’re creative, analytical, and autonomous, we want to hear from you!
Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 152,000 USD - 241,500 USD for Level 3, and 184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4.You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.
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.See All 778+ Senior Software Developer Jobs in Santa Clara
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Find JobsSenior Software Developer Job Market in Santa Clara
Who's Hiring
- NVIDIA465

- Palo Alto Networks76

- Qualcomm38

- ServiceNow38

- Siemens28

Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software114
- Law & Legal Services19
- Agriculture & Farming19
- Electronics & Hardware19
- Artificial Intelligence19
Senior Software Developer Jobs in Santa Clara: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a senior software developer job in Santa Clara?
Focus on Santa Clara's dominant hiring sectors: semiconductor design, cloud platforms, and enterprise networking, where the densest concentration of senior roles sits. Employers near the Great America corridor and along Tasman Drive tend to value systems-level experience, distributed systems architecture, and familiarity with high-performance computing. Candidates who can show shipped product at scale and depth in C++, Java, or Go stand out most in this market.
Which companies hire senior software developers in Santa Clara?
Santa Clara senior software developer roles are posted by NVIDIA, Palo Alto Networks, and Qualcomm and others right now, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Santa Clara draws a strong mix of established semiconductor giants, cloud infrastructure firms, and mid-stage enterprise software companies, all of which maintain significant engineering headcount in the city.
Are there remote senior software developer jobs in Santa Clara?
Yes, though senior software developer roles in Santa Clara skew on-site or hybrid more than most tech positions, given how many employers here center work around hardware integration, lab environments, and cross-functional engineering teams. About 60% of senior software developer openings tied to Santa Clara are remote or hybrid as of August 2026. Pure software platform and cloud roles tend to offer the most location flexibility within the Santa Clara market.
How can I get a senior software developer job in Santa Clara with little or no experience?
The most realistic path is targeting associate or mid-level software engineer roles at Santa Clara's mid-size networking and enterprise software companies, which hire earlier-career engineers more actively than the large semiconductor firms. Contract and rotational engineering positions at hardware-adjacent employers near the Great America area also offer a direct route. Building depth in systems programming, contributing to open-source projects in cloud or networking, and completing technical screens with a strong portfolio of shipped code all improve your standing locally.
Which industries hire the most senior software developers in Santa Clara?
Santa Clara senior software developer roles concentrate in Technology & Software, Law & Legal Services, and Agriculture & Farming, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Santa Clara's position as a hub for semiconductor manufacturing, enterprise networking infrastructure, and cloud hardware drives sustained engineering demand across all three of those sectors.
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