Senior Processor Architect

Senior Processor Architect Overview

This role sits at the center of the company’s effort to build next-generation silicon, systems, and software for AI. The aim is to run highly advanced models at dramatically better speed and cost efficiency, and the processor architecture function is a key part of making that happen. The team is growing quickly, and this position offers the chance to shape the compute core of products that are intended to have major impact.

In this position, you will be responsible for defining and guiding the architecture of the core compute engines, including the instruction set, programming model, memory system, and on-chip communication fabric. The work goes well beyond paper design or abstract performance targets: you will collaborate closely with design, verification, and physical implementation specialists to ensure the architecture becomes real silicon that performs effectively in practice. The role is highly hands-on and includes modelling, specification writing, analysis of performance bottlenecks, and validation before and after silicon bring-up.

What you will do

• Take ownership of the compute engine architecture specification and ensure the design balances speed, flexibility, power consumption, silicon area, and overall implementation difficulty.
• Lead architectural exploration from the earliest concept stage through to formal specification, coordinating closely with modelling, implementation, verification, and physical design teams.
• Define execution resources, memory organization, instruction behavior, and data flow, making sound trade-offs at each layer of the processor design.
• Build and maintain performance models and simulators that provide quantitative evidence for architectural decisions.
• Work with system architecture and software/modelling colleagues to make sure the processor delivers strong real-world application performance, not just impressive benchmark numbers.
• Investigate emerging ideas such as compact number representations, new compute paradigms, and advanced packaging approaches to inform the long-term roadmap.
• Mentor other engineers and help raise the standard of performance analysis and architectural documentation across the team.
• Represent the compute architecture area in technical reviews, partner meetings, and customer discussions.
• Work directly with logical design, physical design, and verification teams to translate architectural intent into functioning silicon.
• Perform bottleneck analysis and contribute to validation work both before tapeout and after silicon is available.

What the company is looking for

• Proven experience in processor architecture, such as CPU architecture, GPU architecture, or a similar semiconductor or high-performance computing role.
• Deep knowledge of processor and compute-engine design, including vector and matrix floating-point arithmetic and memory hierarchy architecture.
• Strong understanding of RTL design flows and the physical design constraints that influence architectural choices.
• Experience bringing processor designs from early exploration through tapeout and into post-silicon performance characterization.
• Demonstrated ability to define and manage performance and power budgets while navigating complex engineering trade-offs.
• Comfort working across architecture, modelling, implementation, verification, and software disciplines.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to connect detailed architectural thinking with system-level and product-level context.
• Experience or interest in AI acceleration, vector or matrix compute, or domain-specific processor design would be beneficial.
• Experience with architectural modelling tools or frameworks such as gem5, SystemC, or custom cycle-accurate simulators is desirable.
• Familiarity with compiler behavior and toolchain interactions, including how software maps onto hardware, is desirable.
• Prior experience in a start-up or scale-up environment is preferred, especially for someone who is comfortable with ambiguity and fast-moving iteration.

How the team works

• You will be given substantial ownership and the freedom to drive your work forward.
• The company works in a rapid-iteration style, with direct access to senior leadership to move from idea to hardware on ambitious timelines.
• Hardware, software, silicon, and modelling teams work closely together in a full-stack environment.
• The culture is described as optimistic and pragmatic, with a strong focus on doing the hard work needed to succeed.
• The team values collaboration and believes the best idea should win, regardless of where it comes from.

About the company

The business was founded in 2022 and now has a team of more than 80 people, with rapid growth underway. It operates from modern open offices in London and Bristol and describes its culture as collaborative, curious, entrepreneurial, and technically fluent.

Additional information

Some positions may involve work on technologies that are subject to export restrictions. If so, applicants may need to complete extra checks to confirm eligibility in line with applicable law.

Applications are submitted through an online form, where candidates are asked to provide standard details such as contact information, a CV, a cover letter, education history, and profile links before submitting their application.

Degree Requirement: Not Specified

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