Six Figure Work

Principal System Software Engineer - CUDA Driver

NVIDIA

Company websitenvidia.com (NVIDIA, opens in new tab)

Base salary $272,000  to $431,250

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Santa Clara, CA

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  • LocationSanta Clara, CA
  • WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (20 min ago) · observed since

About this job

We are hiring senior engineers to work on the CUDA driver, a core component of our platform for accelerating general purpose computation on the GPU. Our team delivers features and improvements to better realize the potential of NVIDIA hardware for a growing range of computational workloads, ranging from deep learning, scientific computation, and self-driving cars to video games and virtual reality!

CUDA defines a unified programming model across a range of system configurations and hardware capabilities. To accomplish this, the CUDA driver interacts with GPU hardware, kernel mode drivers, switches and the operating system.

What you'll be doing:

As a member of our team, you will use your design abilities, coding expertise, and creativity to deliver the best Compute platform in the world. You will craft elegant solutions to exciting problems and craft the future direction of CUDA as you collaborate with your peers across NVIDIA.

  • You will evangelize, architect, and implement new CUDA features

  • You'll oversee and drive development efforts across multiple teams

  • Collaborate with members of hardware architecture teams

  • Help define forward-looking improvements to the CUDA APIs and programming model

  • Design and maintain performance and precision modeling

  • Write effective, maintainable, and well-tested code

  • Develop code for multiple operating systems

What we need to see:

  • Bachelor of Science or Master of Science degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)

  • 15+ years of relevant systems software development experience

  • Strong C programming skills

  • Experience designing, debugging, and maintaining complex software stacks

  • Background with operating system interfaces for threads, process control, and virtual memory

  • Experience with HW/SW co-design, perf. modeling using emulation/simulation, creating SW programming model exposures for HW features  

  • Expert interpersonal, verbal, and written communications skills with a capability to achieve objectives under tight deadlines

  • Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills, specifically a proven ability to effectively guide and influence within a dynamic matrix environment

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

  • You have an understanding of system level architecture, such as interconnects, memory hierarchy, interrupts, and memory-mapped IO

  • Designing and implementing drivers programming rich HW acceleration engines and software verification testplans.

  • Knowledge of CPU, GPU architectures, memory coherence and consistency models

  • Some background with kernel mode development

  • Some familiarity with C++ 

NVIDIA is leading the way in groundbreaking developments in Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing and Visualization. The GPU, our invention, serves as the visual cortex of modern computers and is at the heart of our products and services. Our work opens up new universes to explore, enables amazing creativity and discovery, and powers what were once science fiction inventions from artificial intelligence to autonomous cars. NVIDIA is looking for phenomenal people like you to help us accelerate the next wave of artificial intelligence. NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you're creative and autonomous, we want to hear from you!

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary range for this position is 272,000 USD – 431,250 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy. 

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Source: NVIDIA on Workday · View original posting (opens in new tab)

Pay in context

This role's base floor ($272,000) is above 93% of the 4,267 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 37 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $176,000; the middle half runs from $149,100 to $204,000.

Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 7, 2026.

This range next to 6 other live NVIDIA roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live NVIDIA roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Principal System Software Engineer - CUDA Driver (this listing)$272,000 - $431,250
Senior Director, Procurement Operations and Systems$272K - $414K
Principal Research Scientist, Synthetic Data Generation$272,000 - $431,250
Senior Manager, AI and HPC Cluster Engineering Enablement$272,000 - $488,750
Senior Engineering Manager, Object Storage - DGX Cloud$272,000 - $431,250
Principal Systems Software Engineer$272,000 - $431,250
Senior Manager, Developer Infrastructure and Build Engineering$272,000 - $431,250

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All NVIDIA roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. First observed on the employer's board
  2. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-10-30
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: US, CA, Santa Clara

base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary range for this position is 272,000 USD – 431,250 USD.

Method
Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.