OLIX · 1 day ago
Performance Modelling Engineer
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level
$233K/yr - $314K/yr
5+ years expOLIX is a company focused on creating the next paradigm in AI technology with their Optical Tensor Processing Unit (OTPU). The Senior Performance Modelling Engineer will create and own analytical and simulation models to guide OTPU architecture and software evolution, working closely with hardware and software teams to ensure optimal performance.
Semiconductors
Responsibilities
Project Ownership: Own and deliver projects on your team's roadmap that unlock key high-impact technical and business milestones that drive the success of Olix
Collaboration: Work shoulder-to-shoulder with hardware, compiler and ML framework teams to ensure models reflect reality and reality meets performance goals
Functional Simulator: Design, build, and maintain a functional simulator of the OPTU subsystem and full pipeline
Performance Simulator: Design and maintain architectural & cycle-accurate models of the OPTU subsystems and pipeline. Identify throughput, latency and utilisation hot-spots; propose architectural, or scheduling fixes
Workload Analysis & Bottleneck Hunting: Instrument benchmarks (LLMs, diffusion, graph workloads) to collect detailed traces
Design-Space Exploration: Run massive parameter sweeps with your functional and to understand tradeoffs and guide the software, hardware, and optical teams. Package results into clear, quantitative analyses and design recommendations
Tooling & Automation: Develop Python/C++ tooling for trace parsing, statistical analysis and visualisation. Integrate models into CI so that every RTL commit gets a performance smoke test
Qualification
Required
5+ years building performance or power models for CPUs, GPUs, ASICs, or accelerators
Strong coding ability in C++ and Python; experience with discrete-event or cycle-accurate simulators (e.g., gem5, SystemC, custom in-house)
Solid grasp of computer-architecture fundamentals: memory systems, interconnects, queuing theory, Amdahl/Gustafson analysis
Familiarity with machine-learning workloads and common frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX)
Comfort reading RTL or schematics and discussing micro-architectural trade-offs with hardware designers
Excellent data-visualisation and communication skills: able to turn millions of simulation samples into one decisive slide
Bachelor's+ in EE, CS, Physics, Applied Maths or related
Preferred
Advanced degree preferred but not required
Personal or open-source projects in simulators, ML kernels, or performance analysis are a significant plus
Benefits
Equity & Ownership: Meaningful stock options. You’re not just joining the mission; you’re owning a piece of it.
$36k annual Living-Local Bonus if your residence is within 20 minutes of the office.
Healthcare Coverage: Multiple high-quality medical plan options, including family coverage.
Health Savings Account: A high-deductible medical option with a company-funded health savings account (HSA).
Dental & Vision: Dental and vision coverage.
Additional Coverage: Life insurance, plus short- and long-term disability.
Wellbeing Support: Mental health resources, fertility and family-building support.
Commuter Benefits: Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits.
401(k): Access to a 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% employer match, with both traditional and Roth contribution options.
Company
OLIX
AI is growing faster than any technology in history and the explosion in demand has created a massive infrastructure gap; we can no longer build chips or power stations fast enough to keep up.
51-200 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageCompany data provided by crunchbase