Jobs and Careers

Sr. Principal SoC Architect (AI2501)

SiMa.ai

San Jose, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 13 May 2026

💰 $358,200/yr($231,100/yr – $358,200/yr)

About the role

Job Title: Sr. Principal SoC Architect

Job Location: San Jose, CA (This position requires a full-time, on-site presence in our San Jose, CA office)

Job Number: AI2501

Job Description:

Company: SiMa.ai is the software-centric, embedded edge machine learning system-on-chip (MLSoC) company. SiMa.ai delivers ONE Platform for Edge AI that flexibly adjusts to any framework, network, model, sensor, or modality. Edge ML applications that run completely on the SiMa.ai MLSoC and Modalix product family see a tenfold increase in performance and energy efficiency, bringing higher fidelity intelligence to ML use cases spanning computer vision to generative AI, in minutes. With SiMa.ai, customers unlock new paths to revenue and significant cost savings to innovate at the edge across robotics, industrial manufacturing, retail, aerospace, defense, agriculture, and healthcare. SiMa.ai was founded in 2018, has raised $355M and is backed by Fidelity Management & Research Company, Maverick Capital, Point72, MSD Partners, VentureTech Alliance and more.

With the tremendous success of multiple generations of Machine Learning System on a Chip (MLSoC) optimized for the physical AI market, SiMa.ai is actively working on expanding into the automotive and humanoid Robots market. We are looking for a Chief SoC Architect to help define next generation SoC architecture and software architecture targeting these new markets. This person will ensure that SiMa.ai has industry’s best silicon and software architecture for these markets.

Key Responsibilities:

SiMa.ai is looking for a senior architect to lead its SoC architecture.

Drive end-to-end SoC architecture in collaboration with Silicon and Software Engineering

Identify architecture requirements for target workloads and the system partitioning required
Architect next-generation MLSoC platforms enabling a cohesive scalable architecture that balances performance, power, cost, and programmability.

Work with Silicon Engineering on Third-Party IP strategy
Drive forward-looking architecture for emerging workloads

Anticipate and define architectural innovations required for GenAI (transformers, multimodal models), robotics, and real-time AI systems. Translate workload insights into concrete hardware and software architectural features.

Drive HW/SW Co-Design at system scale

Identify and drive critical hardware/software trade-offs across silicon, system software, compilers, and runtime. Partner deeply with silicon, firmware, and compiler/toolchain teams to deliver optimized, production-ready solutions.

Own performance architecture and roadmap

Establish a data-driven methodology to analyze workload performance (GenAI, CNNs, transformers), identify bottlenecks, and define architectural improvements. Drive these into future silicon generations with measurable impact.

Collaborate with Software Engineering to define software architecture requirements

Scope and drive key platform software capabilities (e.g., virtualization, safety islands, isolation, system orchestration). Ensure tight alignment between silicon capabilities and system software stack.

Influence and guide engineering execution

Work hands-on with hardware and software engineering teams to translate architectural vision into implementation. Serve as the ultimate technical escalation point for complex architectural decisions.

Represent and evangelize architecture internally and externally

Articulate platform architecture and technical vision to customers, partners, and internal stakeholders. Play a key role in strategic customer engagements and enablement.

Establish industry thought leadership

Track industry trends, identify disruptive technologies, and drive adoption where strategically beneficial. Represent the company in key industry forums, standards bodies, and technical communities.

Author deep technical documents

Author high-quality architectural specifications, whitepapers, and technical analyses that guide engineering teams and communicate complex technicalities and trade-offs with clarity.