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Senior System Software Engineer - Performance

NVIDIA

Santa Clara, CAFull-time$184–357K/yrPosted 3w agoStill listed 1 day ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$184–357K/yr
Location
Santa Clara, CA
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

NVIDIA seeks a technical engineer for its Tegra system-on-chip software organization, working on ARM software and system software architecture. The role focuses on enabling performance and efficiency for next-generation datacenter products, including CPUs and CPU+GPU Superchips. The engineer will develop and optimize SoC software, analyze system-wide performance bottlenecks, compare processor performance, and promote performance optimizations across NVIDIA software products and SDKs.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Computer ArchitectureSoftware DevelopmentLeadershipOwnershipHardware and Software DesignMulticore HardwareOperating Systems DesignConcurrencyVirtual MemoryCachingInterruptsDevice DriversReal-Time ProgrammingPerformance AnalysisData AnalysisPerformance OptimizationARM ArchitectureARM Software EcosystemSystem Software DebuggingPerformance TuningCPU Server WorkloadsCUDA ProgrammingGPU ComputingHPCLarge-Scale Computing

Qualifications

BS or MS in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or Related Degree or Equivalent Experience6+ Years Relevant Experience

Full job description

NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It’s a unique legacy of innovation that’s fueled by great technology—and amazing people. Today, we’re tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts 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, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.

NVIDIA is searching for a highly motivated, technical engineer to join the Tegra system-on-chip (SoC) software organization. You will work on key aspects of our ARM SW ecosystem and system software architecture. With a targeted charter to enable best-in-class datacenter-scale performance and efficiency for our next generation of datacenter products, including CPUs and CPU+GPU Superchips.

What you will be doing:

  • Design, develop, test, and optimize software for our next-generation SoCs. In both pre-silicon and post-silicon phases of execution.

  • Review architectural performance bottlenecks for various system wide work loads. Identify HW/SW policies to drive performance and performance/watt leadership.

  • Using strong communication skills, build and drive architecture, analysis documents and communications to internal and/or external audiences about our technology.

  • Competitive analysis comparing uArchitecture & workload performance metrics on NVIDIA's ARM SoCs against emerging processors from other silicon vendors.

  • Influence and drive full-stack adoption of performance optimizations and standard methodologies across NVIDIA SW products & OSS SDKs

What we need to see:

  • BS or MS degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related degree (or equivalent experience).

  • 6+ years of relevant computer architecture or SW development experience.

  • Proven leadership skills and strong ownership on past projects.

  • Hands on technical experience and demonstrated excellence in an environment with complex software and hardware designs.

  • Strong understanding of multicore hardware, operating systems design, concurrency, virtual memory, caching, interrupts, device drivers and real-time programming.

  • Strong stills in performance analysis, data analysis and performance optimization.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

  • Deep expertise in ARM architecture and SW ecosystem.

  • Proficient in analyzing, debugging and tuning performance of complex system software stacks.

  • Experience with CPU server system workloads and performance analysis.

  • Familiarity with CUDA programming and/or GPUs.

  • Experience with HPC or large-scale computing environments.

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 184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4, and 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD for Level 5. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until October 10, 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.

How this job compares

Set against the 34,885 open Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 29, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$184–357K/yr
  • California median$165–246K/yr7,408 salary ranges
  • US median$140–222K/yr28,048 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $270K, is 32% above the California median midpoint ($205K) — in the top quarter of Software Engineer salary ranges in California.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 9,190 open Software Engineer jobs in California and 34,885 across the US. 7% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
This posting asks for at least 6 years of experience; Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years at the median (28,135 postings).
Education
12,578 of the 34,885 open Software Engineer jobs (36%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 29, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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