At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.We are seeking a highly skilled HPC Engineer to join our team. The HPC Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining high-performance software used for transistor-level electrical circuit simulation in large-scale, parallel computing environments. The ideal candidate has strong expertise in GPU-accelerated computation, distributed programming, and modern C++ development, along with a passion for solving complex problems, performance optimization and scalable numerical simulation.
Position Location- This is a full-time, on-site position based in San Jose, CA. In-office attendance is required.
Responsibilities- Architect, develop, and maintain HPC software for large-scale circuit simulation in distributed and GPU-accelerated environments.
- Implement parallel and multi-threaded algorithms optimized for performance, scalability, and reliability.
- Apply performance engineering techniques using profilers, code analyzers, and hardware-level instrumentation to optimize computational kernels and system workflows.
- Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams in a geographically distributed environment to deliver production-quality simulation technologies.
- Contribute to continuous integration, unit testing, and code quality processes using modern C++ paradigms and AI-assisted development workflows.
Required Qualifications- MS/PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
- Demonstrated experience contributing to large-scale numerical simulation projects (e.g., computational physics, fluid dynamics, finite-element analysis, thermal analysis).
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, including design, refactoring, debugging, and testing of high-performance applications.
Skills of Interest- GPU programming: Expertise with CUDA, HIP, or other GPU computing frameworks.
- Distributed programming: Expertise with MPI or similar message-passing systems.
- Parallel / multi-threaded programming: Expertise with OpenMP, pthreads, or other concurrency frameworks.
- Performance optimization: Skilled in kernel-level and system-level performance tuning using profilers and code analyzers (e.g., Nsight, VTune, perf).
- Modern C++: Expertise with C++14/17 or later, including templates, RAII, standard libraries, and modern language patterns.
- Software quality practices: Experience with unit testing, CI/CD automation, and code review processes.
- AI-assisted development workflows: Ability to integrate AI tools into engineering workflows to enhance productivity and code quality.
Preferred Qualifications- 2-4 years of industry experience developing numerical simulation codes.
- Familiarity with VLSI circuit simulation concepts and electrical circuit analysis.
- Background in numerical analysis, particularly numerical linear algebra, sparse matrix techniques, or methods for solving ODEs/PDEs.
- Experience using hardware-level debugging and profiling tools to analyze performance bottlenecks.
The annual salary range for California is $136,500 to $253,500. You may also be eligible to receive incentive compensation: bonus, equity, and benefits. Sales positions generally offer a competitive On Target Earnings (OTE) incentive compensation structure. Please note that the salary range is a guideline and compensation may vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies and work location. Our benefits programs include: paid vacation and paid holidays, 401(k) plan with employer match, employee stock purchase plan, a variety of medical, dental and vision plan options, and more.
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