CPU Performance – Principal Microarchitecture Exploration Engineer

About the role

The CPU Performance team is part of Arm’s worldwide CPU development group. This diverse, engineering-focused team defines, designs, and validates Arm processor IP, collaborating with the world’s leading technology companies to enable innovation across billions of devices.

Responsibilities

• Architecture Definition & Innovation
  • Define and design next-generation CPU microarchitecture with industry-leading performance, power, and area efficiency.
  • Propose and evaluate microarchitectural innovations using cycle-accurate and functional simulators.
  • Estimate impacts on performance, power, and area to guide design trade-offs.
• Performance Analysis
  • Develop and refine performance models to evaluate new microarchitectural ideas.
  • Analyze workloads and identify sensitivities to guide design choices.
  • Correlate simulation and performance results to ensure accuracy of models.
• Collaboration & Influence
  • Partner with CPU design teams to integrate architectural innovations into real designs.
  • Engage with ecosystem partners to understand future performance requirements and workload expectations.
  • Present and communicate complex technical concepts clearly across diverse audiences.
• Mentorship & Leadership
  • Provide technical mentorship to less-experienced engineers in microarchitecture and performance analysis.
  • Contribute to the continuous improvement of team methodologies, tools, and workflows.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Engineering.
• 15 years shown experience in CPU/system microarchitecture development, performance modeling, or microarchitectural workload analysis.
• Proven expertise in high-performance CPU microarchitecture.
• Deep understanding of performance, power, and area trade-offs.
• Hands-on experience with cycle-accurate simulators and performance modeling infrastructure.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to debug and reason across complex systems.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated track record of successful microarchitectural innovation from concept through implementation.
• Familiarity with advanced software engineering practices, performance profiling, and programming in multiple languages (C++, Python, etc.).
• Experience directly contacting customers or partners to gather requirements and present findings.
• Passion for continuous learning and driving improvements in methodology and tools.