Performance Modeling Architect - AI Systems

Location: Bay Area (Onsite or Hybrid)About Velaura AIVelaura AI is building the next generation of compute platforms for artificial intelligence. As AI expands beyond the cloud into edge systems and physical environments, the constraints of energy efficiency, latency, and system architecture are becoming fundamental.A particularly exciting frontier is physical and embodied AI-systems that perceive, reason, and act in the real world. Applications such as robotics, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), drones, and other intelligent machines demand new approaches to compute that combine real-time responsiveness, energy efficiency, and advanced AI capabilities.Our mission is to design silicon and systems from first principles to enable these emerging classes of AI applications. Velaura combines deep semiconductor expertise with hardware-software co-design to deliver breakthrough performance per watt for AI workloads across cloud, edge, and embodied intelligence.We are assembling a world-class team of architects and engineers to tackle some of the most ambitious challenges in computing.Role OverviewWe are looking for a Performance Modeling Architect who will develop the modeling and simulation frameworks used to guide architectural decisions across our platform.In this role, you will build models that capture the interaction between AI workloads, software stacks, and hardware architectures, enabling rigorous evaluation of system-level tradeoffs.Your models will represent not only the SoC architecture and its components, but also key elements of the software stack and system behavior that ultimately determine real-world performance.These frameworks will enable hardware-software co-design, allowing us to explore design alternatives and quantify their impact on performance, latency, scalability, and energy efficiency.Your work will directly influence the architecture of next-generation AI compute platforms.ResponsibilitiesDevelop system-level performance models for AI workloads and compute architectures.Build simulation frameworks that capture interactions between AI models, software runtimes, and hardware systems.Model key components of SoC architecture including compute units, memory hierarchies, and interconnects.Incorporate relevant software and runtime behavior into modeling frameworks to reflect realistic system execution.Analyze system bottlenecks and evaluate architectural tradeoffs across the platform.Work closely with hardware architects to guide microarchitectural and system-level design decisions.Collaborate with software and ML teams to incorporate realistic workloads into modeling frameworks.Use modeling and simulation to evaluate performance, latency, throughput, and energy efficiency across target applications.Required QualificationsStrong background in computer architecture, system architecture, or performance modeling.Experience building simulation or analytical models of complex hardware systems.Strong programming skills (Python, C++, or similar) for modeling and simulation frameworks.Understanding of modern compute architectures such as CPUs, GPUs, or AI accelerators.Ability to analyze complex systems and identify performance bottlenecks.Strong quantitative reasoning and ability to translate models into architectural insights.Preferred QualificationsExperience modeling AI workloads or machine learning systems.Familiarity with architectural simulators or performance modeling tools.Experience with memory systems, interconnect architectures, or accelerator design.Exposure to hardware-software co-design methodologies.Experience modeling performance across multiple layers of the stack, including software runtimes and hardware platforms.Why Join VelauraYou will help shape how architectural decisions are made across the entire compute stack.Rather than optimizing individual components in isolation, you will build the frameworks that allow us to reason about the complete system-from AI workloads and software runtimes to silicon architecture.If you enjoy understanding complex systems and using modeling to guide major architectural decisions, we would love to hear from you.Velaura is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. We also take affirmative action to offer employment opportunities to minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans.Velaura is committed to working with qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities. Applicants who would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or who need special assistance or a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process may contact us at: careers@velaura.ai. This contact information is for accommodation requests only. Evaluation of requests for reasonable accommodation will be determined on a case-by-case basis.