Senior System Power Architect, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Workloads

About the role

As a Silicon Power and Performance Architect for Pixel AR/VR, you will drive the engaged and architectural analysis that defines the future of Google's consumer hardware. AR and VR use cases demand immersive, zero-latency experiences under incredibly tight thermal and power constraints. You will analyze how spatial computing workloads impact the broader Pixel system-on-chip (SoC) power envelope, identifying bottlenecks, evaluating competitor architectures, and proposing silicon-level optimizations to ensure Pixel remains a market leader.

Responsibilities

• Benchmark and model next-generation AR/VR use cases against industry competitors to identify architectural gaps and opportunities.
• Analyze end-to-end workloads (spatial mapping, hand tracking, passthrough video) to quantify their impact on total Pixel power consumption.
• Leverage low-power design techniques, specifically optimizing the utilization of low-power islands (LPIs) to keep ambient AR/VR tasks highly efficient.
• Map and optimize critical data paths from the display/sensors through the SoC fabric and the path to DDR, ensuring maximum bandwidth with minimal power overhead.
• Partner with software, product, and hardware teams to translate architectural insights into actionable silicon requirements for future Pixel SoCs.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a specialized field (e.g., Optics, Sensors, Audio/DSP, etc.), or equivalent practical experience.
• 4 years of experience in SoC architecture, power/performance modeling, or pre-silicon verification.
• Experience with low-power design methodologies or power management techniques (e.g., power gating, DVFS, low-power states).
• Experience with memory subsystems, interconnects, or data paths to DDR.

Preferred qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related field (e.g., Optics, Sensors, Audio/DSP).
• Experience specifically analyzing or architecting mobile/wearable SoCs for AR, VR, or computer vision applications.
• Experience with architectural simulators or power estimation tools (e.g., Synopsys PrimePower, ANSYS PowerArtist, or proprietary modeling frameworks).
• Practical knowledge of low-power islands (LPI) or always-on subsystem architectures.
• Excellent communication skills to translate complex architectural trade-offs into clear product decisions for leadership.

Benefits

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Pay

$159,000 - $231,000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

Schedule

Full-time