Sr. Director, Pre-Si System Validation, Data Center GPU Products
Advanced Micro Devices
San Jose, CA · Posted August 25, 2026
Just laid off? Start here: a plan for the first weeks
Want recruiters in Engineering to be able to find you?
Roles at this level, like this one at Advanced Micro Devices, are often filled through recruiters.
See every open role at Advanced Micro Devices
More in California job market · All Sr Director jobs (132) · Technology & Software · Engineering jobs
More roles at Advanced Micro Devices
- Director of Debug · Seattle, WA
- Memory PHY Principal Design Engineer · Santa Clara, CA
- Principal Distributed Systems Software Engineer, Collectives · San Jose, CA
- Principal Competitive CPU Performance Forecaster & Data Scientist
- Director, Product Planning-ASIC/SoC · San Jose, CA
- Principal FPGA Design Engineer · Santa Clara, CA
Similar jobs
- Principal Technical Program Manager · Ripple · San Francisco, CA
- Director-Data Science Center · Loma Linda University Health · Loma Linda, CA
- Director of Global AWS Cloud Alliance · Zscaler · Santa Clara, CA
- Director, Data & Product Engineering · Accion Opportunity Fund · Los Angeles, CA
- Principal Technical Program Manager, Hardware · Hayden AI · San Francisco, CA
- Principal Technical Program Manager · Hayden AI · San Francisco, CA
Where San Jose, CA ranks
Where San Jose, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for marketing pay after cost of living$204k · of 16
- #1Best cities for aerospace and defense pay after cost of living$187k · of 19
- #2Best cities for security pay after cost of living$220k · of 10
- #3Best cities for technology pay after cost of living$205k · of 80
- #5Best cities for technology jobs1,449 openings · of 100
- #5Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the West Coast162 jobs · of 47
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing does not state pay. Across 32 open sr director listings that state pay, the middle half runs $217,000 to $289,500 and the median is $240,500.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among computer occupations, all other, AI is already used for a large share of the tasks. Measured exposure for computer occupations, all other: 31% (high).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
About the job
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 Sr. Director, Pre-Si System Validation leads AMD's system-level modeling — including emulation — and pre-silicon validation for Data Center GPU platforms. This role ensures early, system-accurate insights across AI, HPC, and cloud-scale environments, accelerating software readiness, reducing integration risk, and enabling end-to-end HW/SW co-design. It drives holistic evaluation of GPU SoCs, platforms, and rack-scale systems ahead of silicon availability.
Operating at the center of DCGPU execution, the individual partners with architecture, silicon, systems, software, performance, and customer teams, while engaging senior leadership and key customers.
THE PERSON:
The role owns the end-to-end pre-silicon validation strategy, infrastructure, methodology, and execution across AMD's Instinct™ GPUs, ROCm™ platform, and broader compute ecosystem, with direct interface to executive, CTO, and BU leadership.
Ability to translate complex technical insights into clear, executive-level recommendations.
Track record of operating effectively in fast-paced, high-stakes, and ambiguous environments.
Exceptional communication, influence, and executive presence in cross-functional and external-facing environments.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
System-Level Pre-Si Strategy & Ownership
Own the system-level validation strategy and roadmap for Data Center GPU platforms across pre- and post-silicon.
Establish emulation as a core DCGPU execution capability, accelerating architectural confidence, software bring-up, and risk reduction.
Drive investment and prioritization of emulation infrastructure, tooling, and methodologies aligned to DCGPU scale and timelines.
AI, HPC, and Platform-Scale Enablement
Lead simulation and emulation of GPU SoCs, multi-die architectures, and full system platforms for AI training, inference, and HPC workloads.
Enable rack-, pod-, and cluster-level exploration, spanning memory hierarchy, interconnects/fabrics, IO, and platform interactions.
Partner with architecture and performance teams to deliver early system-scale performance, power, and scalability insights.
HW/SW Co-Design & Software Readiness
Drive shift-left HW/SW co-design through high-fidelity modeling including emulation, enabling early access for firmware, drivers, runtime, compilers, and frameworks.
Integrate emulation into software development and validation flows to improve predictability and time-to-value.
Correlate emulation results with workload behavior and performance targets in partnership with performance teams.
Cross-Functional & Executive Engagement
Serve as the executive owner for system-level emulation in architecture, program, and executive reviews.
Partner with platform solutions and customer engineering to ensure system readiness for hyperscalers, CSPs, and enterprise customers.
Represent AMD in strategic customer and partner engagements where system-level validation is a key differentiator.
Execution, Talent, and Organizational Leadership
Build and lead a world-class system-level emulation organization, including senior architects and people leaders.
Establish technical standards, best practices, and governance across emulation, simulation, and hybrid modeling.
Mentor senior technical leaders, strengthening AMD's long-term system modeling and emulation bench.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Proven leadership of large, multi-disciplinary teams at Sr. Director/VP level
Deep expertise in system-level modeling, simulation, and emulation
Strong knowledge of AI/HPC workloads, GPU architectures, memory, and interconnects
Experience in HW/SW co-design, workload-driven architecture, and performance modeling
Ability to translate complex technical insights into clear executive decisions
ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:
Advanced degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
#LI-DKDAMD1
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.
THE ROLE:
The Sr. Director, Pre-Si System Validation leads AMD's system-level modeling — including emulation — and pre-silicon validation for Data Center GPU platforms. This role ensures early, system-accurate insights across AI, HPC, and cloud-scale environments, accelerating software readiness, reducing integration risk, and enabling end-to-end HW/SW co-design. It drives holistic evaluation of GPU SoCs, platforms, and rack-scale systems ahead of silicon availability.
Operating at the center of DCGPU execution, the individual partners with architecture, silicon, systems, software, performance, and customer teams, while engaging senior leadership and key customers.
THE PERSON:
The role owns the end-to-end pre-silicon validation strategy, infrastructure, methodology, and execution across AMD's Instinct™ GPUs, ROCm™ platform, and broader compute ecosystem, with direct interface to executive, CTO, and BU leadership.
Ability to translate complex technical insights into clear, executive-level recommendations.
Track record of operating effectively in fast-paced, high-stakes, and ambiguous environments.
Exceptional communication, influence, and executive presence in cross-functional and external-facing environments.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
System-Level Pre-Si Strategy & Ownership
Own the system-level validation strategy and roadmap for Data Center GPU platforms across pre- and post-silicon.
Establish emulation as a core DCGPU execution capability, accelerating architectural confidence, software bring-up, and risk reduction.
Drive investment and prioritization of emulation infrastructure, tooling, and methodologies aligned to DCGPU scale and timelines.
AI, HPC, and Platform-Scale Enablement
Lead simulation and emulation of GPU SoCs, multi-die architectures, and full system platforms for AI training, inference, and HPC workloads.
Enable rack-, pod-, and cluster-level exploration, spanning memory hierarchy, interconnects/fabrics, IO, and platform interactions.
Partner with architecture and performance teams to deliver early system-scale performance, power, and scalability insights.
HW/SW Co-Design & Software Readiness
Drive shift-left HW/SW co-design through high-fidelity modeling including emulation, enabling early access for firmware, drivers, runtime, compilers, and frameworks.
Integrate emulation into software development and validation flows to improve predictability and time-to-value.
Correlate emulation results with workload behavior and performance targets in partnership with performance teams.
Cross-Functional & Executive Engagement
Serve as the executive owner for system-level emulation in architecture, program, and executive reviews.
Partner with platform solutions and customer engineering to ensure system readiness for hyperscalers, CSPs, and enterprise customers.
Represent AMD in strategic customer and partner engagements where system-level validation is a key differentiator.
Execution, Talent, and Organizational Leadership
Build and lead a world-class system-level emulation organization, including senior architects and people leaders.
Establish technical standards, best practices, and governance across emulation, simulation, and hybrid modeling.
Mentor senior technical leaders, strengthening AMD's long-term system modeling and emulation bench.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Proven leadership of large, multi-disciplinary teams at Sr. Director/VP level
Deep expertise in system-level modeling, simulation, and emulation
Strong knowledge of AI/HPC workloads, GPU architectures, memory, and interconnects
Experience in HW/SW co-design, workload-driven architecture, and performance modeling
Ability to translate complex technical insights into clear executive decisions
ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:
Advanced degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
#LI-DKDAMD1
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.