CPU Power & Performance Validation Engineer

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. ADVANCE THE WORLD. 

At AMD, we believe technology has the power to solve the world’s most important challenges. From advancing healthcare and scientific discovery to powering AI and the technologies people rely on every day, innovation at AMD is shaping the future. 

Whether you’re designing next-gen processors, enabling AI breakthroughs, or bringing leading edge products to market, every role at AMD contributes to something bigger — technology that moves the world forward. Join us and, together, we’ll advance your career.

THE ROLE:

The CPU Power & Performance Validation Engineer will be a key contributor to AMD’s latest-generation silicon, working within a Core Validation team focused on delivering industry-leading performance and power. This role provides the opportunity to work hands-on with silicon, benchmarks, workloads, power and thermal equipment, and performance data to understand how products are operating and ensure they meet performance targets.

The engineer will collaborate closely with design and engineering teams to understand specifications and workload requirements, investigate performance and power issues, identify corner cases, validate workarounds, and fine-tune product performance. This is an opportunity to directly influence the performance of AMD products while working on complex, highly visible technical challenges.

THE PERSON:

The ideal candidate is a proactive, hands-on engineer who enjoys solving complex technical problems and digging deep to understand root causes. This person does not simply execute an existing test plan. They look for potential issues, identify corner cases, think outside the box, and proactively engage with teams across the organization to gather the information needed to solve problems.

Success in this role requires strong technical curiosity, collaboration, ownership, and the ability to operate independently at a senior technical level. The successful candidate will also be comfortable incorporating AI tools into their engineering workflow to accelerate automation, analyze data, and support technical debugging.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Validate Core IP for performance and power accuracy against product specifications and performance targets.
• Execute benchmarks and workloads to evaluate silicon performance and power behavior.
• Identify, investigate, and debug performance and power issues, including complex corner cases.
• Partner with design teams to understand specifications, technical requirements, and expected workload behavior.
• Develop and execute validation approaches to confirm fixes and workarounds and fine-tune performance toward targeted results.
• Develop and maintain Python-based scripting and automation supporting validation, hardware equipment, and configuration workflows.
• Use performance, power, thermal, and monitoring equipment to characterize and validate silicon behavior.
• Apply AI tools appropriately to accelerate automation development, analyze validation data, and help identify potential directions during technical debugging.
• Within the first 30 days, ramp on the team’s methodologies, workloads, tools, and performance-validation execution processes.
• Within 60 days, become an independent contributor operating alongside the senior engineers on the team.
• Within the first 90 days, contribute fully by independently identifying issues and corner cases, executing validation activities, and communicating product findings and results.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• Strong experience with CPU or silicon performance and power validation, including performance-at-power analysis.
• Knowledge of power management features and their impact on system performance and power.
• Experience executing benchmarks, analyzing results, identifying performance gaps, and debugging complex silicon or system-level issues.
• Hands-on experience with performance, power, and thermal equipment such as power analyzers, thermal monitors, thermal equipment, and chillers.
• Strong Python scripting and automation skills.
• Experience building automation for validation workflows, hardware equipment, or configuration files.
• Understanding of CPU architecture is highly desired.
• Knowledge of BIOS and firmware interactions is desired.
• Experience with benchmark development is a plus.
• Experience identifying technical corner cases and working cross-functionally with design and engineering teams to drive issues toward resolution.
• Comfort using AI-assisted engineering tools for automation, data analysis, and technical debugging.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field is preferred.

LOCATION: Folsom, California (Onsite)

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Benefits offered are described:  AMD benefits at a glance.

AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third-party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.   We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position.  AMD’s “Responsible AI Policy” is available here.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Compensation: Expected salary range: USD 125,230.00 per year to USD 178,900.00 per year