Principal SoC Architect, Robotics and Automotive

NVIDIA is hiring a Principal SoC Architect, Robotics and Automotive in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $272k-$431k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
The posting mentions computer vision among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a lead role.
NVIDIA has 2,700+ other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

computer-vision

NVIDIA is seeking a Principal SoC Architect to join our architecture team and drive the next generation of Edge AI, Robotics, and Autonomous Driving platforms.

NVIDIA is developing processor and system architectures that power the world’s most advanced autonomous machines—from factory-floor AMRs and humanoids running NVIDIA Isaac, to next-generation software-defined vehicles running NVIDIA DRIVE. In this position, you will own the architectural definition of SoCs that bring together NVIDIA GPUs, world-class computer vision accelerators, and real-time processors into a single silicon fabric. Your role will be inherently cross-disciplinary, bridging the gap between pioneering robotic applications, automotive safety standards, and silicon design.

What You’ll Be Doing:

End-to-End SoC Lifecycle Ownership: Define and drive the hardware architecture from early concept through bring-up and ecosystem enablement.
Robotics & Automotive Co-Design: Collaborate with software, deep learning, and safety teams to co-design hardware feature sets tailored for low-latency robotics spatial computing, sensor fusion, and autonomous driving pipelines.
PPA Modeling & Analysis: Perform rigorous performance, power, and area modeling, optimizing specifically for thermally constrained robotic enclosures and automotive ECUs.
Specification & Modeling: Author high-quality architecture specifications and drive the development of models to validate architectural choices.
Architectural Validation: Define validation plans to ensure hardware meets strict real-time execution and safety metrics.
Post-Silicon & Production Support: Participate in silicon debug, performance tuning, and the generation of user documentation for tier-1 robotics and automotive customers.

What We Need to See:

Experience: 15+ years of deep architecture design experience in high-performance silicon.
SoC Architecture Expertise: Meaningful industry expertise in top-level SoC definition
- Robotics & Automotive I/O: Practical knowledge of high-speed interfaces (PCIe, GMSL/Camera interfaces, Time-Sensitive Networking/TSN).
- Advanced Subsystems: Multimedia/vision accelerator pipelines, CPU/GPU cache coherency, Virtualization, and Hardware Security.
Deterministic & Real-Time Compute: Deep understanding of hardware support for real-time operating systems (RTOS), deterministic latency, and mixed-criticality workloads.
Cross-Functional Technical Leadership: Exceptional ability to communicate, negotiate, and solve technical hurdles across all abstraction levels—from micro-architecture to software application layers.
Education: Master’s or PhD degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Ways to Stand Out from the Crowd:

Experience in functional safety and building end to end solutions fulfilling safety requirements
A proven background in mapping complex Edge AI workloads (e.g., transformer-based vision models, SLAM, or path planning) directly onto custom hardware architectures.
Advanced programming skills in SystemC, C++, or Python for architectural simulation and modeling.

NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you're creative, autonomous and love a challenge, we want to hear from you!

#ArchitectYourFuture

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:
272,000 USD – 431,250 USD for Level 6; and 320,000 USD – 488,750 USD for Level 7.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

How we rate this

Principal SoC Architect, Robotics and Automotive at NVIDIA rates 87 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Principal SoC Architect, Robotics and Automotive is an open job at NVIDIA.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $272k-$431k a year.
The role is based in US, CA, Santa Clara.
The job was posted on July 14, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by NVIDIA. Apply on NVIDIA

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Computer vision

Questions you could be asked

Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Computer vision. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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