System Software Performance Lead for Hardware Architecture

Summary

In this position, you will lead efforts within Platform Architecture team to characterize in-system performance of low-voltage electrical (LVE) systems in Rivian vehicles, with the aim to drive hardware architecture decision making.  This is a hybrid software / hardware role that requires a system software background to identify, bring-up, develop and measure key system-level performance metrics, and the necessary embedded hardware background to support these activities. You will collaborate cross-functionally with hardware design and software application teams to accomplish this work, and thereby drive direction of next generation hardware architectures, as well as motivate optimization of current generation platforms.  This role focuses on the characterization of computational performance dimensions of the hardware architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead the hands-on efforts to characterize system-wide computational performance across various LVE systems, including infotainment, telematics, wireless networking, in-cabin radar, passive entry, camera monitoring system, ADAS systems, and more.
• Collaborate with hardware architecture, hardware design and software application teams to create comprehensive characterization plans to surface key performance metrics, locate bottlenecks and chokepoints, identify over-/under-design scenarios relative to application requirements, etc.
• Execute characterization plans, develop analytics, and present clear validation metrics and associated reports to help architecture planning and decision-making
• Build test equipment, benchtop mock-ups, prototypes, and/or POCs as necessary to evaluate sub-system performance, and/or investigate characterization of future-facing hardware options.
• Bring-up and develop software on evaluation kits, early prototypes boards, vehicle system mock-ups, to facilitate execution of characterization plans
• Contribute to the evaluation and design review of next generation architectures, leveraging insights from performance characterization efforts

Qualifications

Required Competencies

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related field, and a track record of hands-on experience in relevant industries, internships and/or academic settings
• Strong software and hardware understanding of embedded computing architectures, and related characterization methods for quantifying system-level performance of their processors (e.g. CPUs, GPUs, ML cores), memory systems (e.g. RAM, caches, and storage), networking / peripheral interfaces, power states and management, etc.
• Hands-on experience with a variety of embedded hardware components typical in automotive applications, including SoCs, MCUs, camera or other sensors, de-/serializers, transceivers, networking components, and/or related networking and peripheral interfaces
• Coding experience related to some combination of embedded platform bring-up, system software or applications development, system-level hardware performance characterization, testing automation / scripting, and/or instrumentation of software for performance evaluation.
• Conversant with software stacks and drivers for embedded computing architectures typical in automotive applications (e.g. infotainment, telematics, ADAS), ranging from OS to RTOS to bare-metal, and respective performance characterization methodologies.
• Familiarity with electrical engineering fundamentals, and related test and measurement equipment, e.g., scopes, DMMs, power supplies, logic analyzers, etc.
• Innate curiosity to figure out how systems work by decomposing them through the application of first-principles, an ability to translate this into measurable metrics, and a drive to optimize design performance by these means

Optional Cross-Functional Skillsets

• Familiarity with camera sensors, radars and/or downstream processing pipelines, including their data formats, ISPs, DSPs, and how to characterize and validate key performance metrics
• Understanding of automotive network architectures and protocols, and how to characterize and validate relevant performance metrics at the component and system levels (e.g., throughput, latency, collisions, input-to-actuation delays, photons-to-photons latencies, etc.)
• Grasp of technologies in embedded display systems, ranging from panel technologies to protocols and PHYs (e.g. DSI, eDP, etc.), through to display pipelines and drivers in embedded SoCs, and the myriad of related performance characterization tools and benchmarks.

Desirable Skillsets

• Familiarity with automotive and/or autonomous vehicle requirements
• Conversant with automotive protocols (e.g., CAN, LIN, CAN-FD, Ethernet, FPDLINK, etc.)
• Experience with contract manufacturing and related supply chains
• Experience working on high volume products in aggressive design environments