Senior GPU System Architect

NVIDIA is hiring a Senior GPU System Architect in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $184k-$288k 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.
Level classes it as a senior role.
NVIDIA has 2,700+ other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself. Our invention of the GPU sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. Today, research in artificial intelligence is booming worldwide, which calls for highly scalable and massively parallel computation horsepower that NVIDIA GPUs excel.NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself. Our invention of the GPU sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. Today, research in artificial intelligence is booming worldwide, which calls for highly scalable and massively parallel computation horsepower that NVIDIA GPUs excel.

We are seeking a GPU System Architect who will architect and design multi-GPU scale-up and scale-out systems for next-generation datacenter platforms for AI and HPC. The architect in this role will explore and define system architectures that tightly couple GPU compute, high-bandwidth memory, in-package interconnects and GPU-to-GPU communication fabric subsystems to deliver industry-leading AI performance, scalability and resilience. The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on system-level fabric/networking architecture experience, and practical hardware-software co-design expertise.

What you will be doing:

Architect multi-GPU system topologies for scale-up and scale-out configurations, balancing AI throughput, scalability, and resilience.
Define, modify and evaluate future architectures for high-speed interconnects such as NVLink and Ethernet co-designed with the GPU memory system.
Collaborate with other teams to architect RDMA-capable hardware and define transport layer optimizations for GPU-based large scale AI workload deployments.
Use and modify system models, perform simulations and bottleneck analyses to guide design trade-offs.
Work with GPU ASIC, compiler, library and software stack teams to enable efficient hardware-software co-design across compute, memory, and communication layers.
Contribute to interposer, package, PCB and switch co-design for novel high-density multi-die, multi-package, multi-node rack-scale systems consisting of hundreds of GPUs.

What we need to see:

BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.
8 years or more of relevant experience in system design and/or ASIC/SoC architecture for GPU, CPU or networking products.
Deep understanding of communication interconnect protocols such as NVLink, Ethernet, InfiniBand, CXL and PCIe.
Experience with RDMA/RoCE or InfiniBand transport offload architectures.
Proven ability to architect multi-GPU/multi-CPU topologies, with awareness of bandwidth scaling, NUMA, memory models, coherency and resilience.
Experience with hardware-software interaction, drivers and runtimes, and performance tuning for modern distributed computing systems.
Strong analytical and system modeling skills (Python, SystemC, or similar).
Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills with silicon, packaging, board, and software teams.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

Background in system design for AI and HPC.
Experience with NICs or DPU architecture and other transport offload engines.
Expertise in chiplet interconnect architectures or multi-node fabrics and protocols for distributed computing.
Hands-on experience with interposer or 2.5D/3D package co-design.

#LI-Hybrid

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:
184,000 USD – 287,500 USD for Level 4; and 224,000 USD – 356,500 USD for Level 5.

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

Senior GPU System Architect at NVIDIA rates 88 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

Senior GPU System Architect is an open job at NVIDIA.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $184k-$288k a year.
The role is based in US, CA, Santa Clara.
The job was posted on May 7, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
Applications are handled by NVIDIA. Apply on NVIDIA

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