Principal Software Engineer, Kernels
D Matrix
Santa Clara, CA · $195k–$285k a year · Posted July 15, 2026
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Where Santa Clara, CA ranks
Where Santa Clara, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for sales pay after cost of living$175k · of 45
- #1Best cities for product pay after cost of living$224k · of 14
- #2Best cities for operations pay after cost of living$173k · of 41
- #2Best cities for marketing pay after cost of living$192k · of 16
- #2Best all-round cities for remote workers in the West Coast85 / 100 · of 39
- #3Best cities for finance pay after cost of living$156k · of 35
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 pays about $240,000 a year. Across 51 open principal software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $205,500 to $274,000 and the median is $240,000. That is inside the middle half of those listings and at the median.
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How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
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.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
Join d-Matrix and help build the future of AI inference. We’ve pioneered a memory-centric architecture that brings compute directly into memory, making AI faster, more energy efficient, and accessible on a global scale. From chips and software to rack-scale systems, our team is tackling some of AI infrastructure’s hardest challenges — and shipping breakthrough technology today. If you want to create what comes next and help make infinite inference possible, we’d love to hear from you.
Our culture is built on respect, collaboration, and direct communication. We value humility, we believe our different perspectives lead to better solutions, and we’re looking for people who are driven by execution and energized by hard problems.
Location:
Hybrid, working onsite at our Santa Clara, CA, headquarters 3-5 days per week.
The Role: Principal Software Engineer, Kernels
What you will do:
The role requires you to be part of the team that helps productize the SW stack for our AI compute engine. As part of the software team, you will be responsible for the development, enhancement, and maintenance of software kernels for next-generation AI hardware. You possess experience building software kernels for HW architectures. You possess a very strong understanding of various hardware architectures and how to map algorithms to the architecture. You understand how to map computational graphs generated by AI frameworks to the underlying architecture. You have had past experience working across all aspects of the full-stack toolchain and understand the nuances of what it takes to optimize and trade off various aspects of hardware-software co-design. You can build and scale software deliverables in a tight development window. You will work with a team of compiler experts to build out the compiler infrastructure, working closely with other software (ML, systems) and hardware (mixed signal, DSP, CPU) experts in the company.
What you will bring:
Minimum:
- MS in computer engineering, math, physics, or a related degree with 12+ years of industry experience or a PhD in computer engineering, math, physics, or a related degree with 7+ years of industry experience.
- Strong grasp of computer architecture, data structures, system software, and machine learning fundamentals.
- Proficient in C/C++ and Python development in Linux environments and using standard development tools.
- Experience implementing algorithms in high-level languages such as C/C++ and Python.
- Experience implementing algorithms for specialized hardware such as FPGAs, DSPs, GPUs, and AI accelerators using libraries such as CUDA, etc.
- Experience in implementing operators commonly used in ML workloads—GEMMs, Convolutions, BLAS, SIMD operators for operations like softmax, layer normalization, pooling, etc.
- Experience with development for embedded SIMD vector processors such as Tensilica.
- Self-motivated team player with a strong sense of ownership and leadership.
Preferred:
- Prior startup, small team, or incubation experience.
- Experience with ML frameworks such as TensorFlow and/orPyTorch.
- Experience working with ML compilers and algorithms, such as MLIR, LLVM, TVM, Glow, etc.
- Experience with a deep learning framework (such as PyTorch or TensorFlow) and ML models for CV, NLP, or recommendation.
- Work experience at a cloud provider or AI compute/subsystem company.
Equal Opportunity Employment Policy
d-Matrix is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and affirmative action employer. We’re committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcomed and empowered to do their best work. We hire the best talent for our teams, regardless of race, religion, color, age, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, or veteran status. Our focus is on hiring teammates with humble expertise, kindness, dedication, and a willingness to embrace challenges and learn together every day.
d-Matrix does not accept resumes or candidate submissions from external agencies. We appreciate the interest and effort of recruitment firms, but we kindly request that individuals interested in opportunities with d-Matrix apply directly through our official channels. This approach allows us to streamline our hiring processes and maintain a consistent and fair evaluation of all applicants. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.