Senior AI/ML Performance Architect

General Information Job Name Sr AI/ML Performance Architect Country/Region United States of America City Milpitas Work Location Milpitas Office Work Mode Employees work on-site Salary Range $103,800 - $176,400 Exemption Status Exempt Business Function ASIC Development Engineering Employment Type Full-time Sandisk understands how people and businesses consume data and we relentlessly innovate to deliver solutions that enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas. With a rich history of groundbreaking innovations in Flash and advanced memory technologies, our solutions have become the beating heart of the digital world we’re living in and that we have the power to shape. Sandisk meets people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. We do this through the balance of our powerhouse manufacturing capabilities and our industry-leading portfolio of products that are recognized globally for innovation, performance and quality. Sandisk has two facilities recognized by the World Economic Forum as part of the Global Lighthouse Network for advanced 4IR innovations. These facilities were also recognized as Sustainability Lighthouses for breakthroughs in efficient operations. With our global reach, we ensure the global supply chain has access to the Flash memory it needs to keep our world moving forward. **Description** Not sure how, the AI/ML Performance Engineer position JD is same as AI/ML Architect position. Please update the AI/ML Performance Engineer position to the below. Thank you very much. **Sr AI/ML Performance Architect (may be we can change the title from Performance Engineer to Performance Architect)** In this AI/ML HBF ASIC Performance Modeling position, you will develop high-performance simulation models and modeling methodologies for Sandisk’s next-generation High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) AI Storage Solutions. You will work at the intersection of ASIC architecture, AI/ML workloads, memory systems, and system-level performance engineering to evaluate architectural choices before silicon implementation. You will develop and enhance SystemC/TLM-based performance models representing key HBF ASIC components and their interactions with GPU/TPU/xPU accelerators. The role requires strong SystemC/C++ development skills combined with a solid understanding of computer architecture and performance analysis. **Essential Duties and Responsibilities** + Develop, maintain, and enhance SystemC/TLM 2.0 transaction-level performance models for HBF ASICs and AI Storage Solutions, enabling rapid architectural exploration before RTL implementation + Model critical ASIC subsystems including UCIe/PCIe/CXL interfaces, NoC, DMA engines, queues and buffers, memory controllers, embedded processors, NAND interfaces, and high-bandwidth datapaths + Develop configurable modeling infrastructure allowing architects to perform architectural what-if analysis, parameter sweeps, bottleneck identification, and design-space exploration + Characterize AI/ML and LLM workloads, including training and inference workloads, Dense and Mixture-of-Experts models, attention/KV-cache traffic, and accelerator-to-storage data movement + Analyze end-to-end performance between GPU/TPU/xPU accelerators and HBF, identifying opportunities to improve effective bandwidth, latency, concurrency, and hardware utilization + Partner with ASIC architects to evaluate alternative microarchitectures and quantitatively influence architecture specifications and product decisions + Develop performance metrics, statistics, traces, visualization, regression, and analysis methodologies that enable rapid identification and root-cause analysis of performance bottlenecks + Correlate SystemC model behavior against RTL simulation, emulation, FPGA prototypes, and silicon measurements where available, improving model fidelity throughout the product lifecycle and Model-to-RTL/hardware validation **Required Qualifications** + Bachelors/Masters/Phd degree with 5+ years of relevant experience in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science + Strong hands-on expertise developing simulation and performance models using SystemC, TLM 2.0, C/C++, and object-oriented software design + Strong understanding of computer architecture, including NoC/interconnects, memory hierarchy, queues, arbitration, DMA, caching, memory controllers, and high-bandwidth I/O + Accurately model architecture-level timing, concurrency, bandwidth, latency, contention, backpressure, arbitration, resource utilization, and pipeline behavior + Experience analyzing system performance including throughput, latency, contention, utilization, queue occupancy, backpressure, and bottleneck identification + Experience developing performance models for AI/ML accelerators, GPUs/TPUs/NPUs, datacenter ASICs, storage controllers, or memory systems + Knowledge of LLM training and inference, including attention, KV cache, Mixture-of-Experts, batching, and memory-bandwidth requirements + Experience with SystemC/TLM model integration, RTL/TLM co-simulation, model correlation, regression infrastructure, and architectural design-space exploration **Compensation & Benefits** + An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs. + The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future. + You will be eligible to participate in Sandisk's Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance. Depending on your role and your performance, you may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Sandisk's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards. + We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program, employee stock purchase plan, and the Sandisk's Savings 401(k) Plan. + Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law. **Additional Information** Sandisk is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088\_EEOC\_KnowYourRights6.12.pdf) poster. Sandisk thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution. Sandisk is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at jobs.accommodations@sandisk.com to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.