Senior Software Performance Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles
Company websitenvidia.com (NVIDIA, opens in new tab)
Base salary $224,000 to $431,250
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Santa Clara, CA
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationSanta Clara, CA
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since
About this job
NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It’s a unique legacy of innovation that’s fueled by great technology—and amazing people. Today, we’re tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what’s never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world’s best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you’ll be immersed in a diverse, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.
We are now looking for a Senior Software Performance Engineer for Autonomous Vehicles! Our team builds NVIDIA’s end-to-end autonomous driving applications. We are seeking senior software engineers who are passionate about performance with an interest in optimizing self-driving solutions that run on NVIDIA’s multi-computer and heterogenous HW architectures.
What you’ll be doing:
- Develop, maintain and optimize latency and throughput of NVIDIA’s L2/L3/L4 autonomous driving solutions.
- Devise acceleration strategies and patterns to improve software architecture and its efficiency on our computers with multiple heterogeneous hardware engines while meeting or exceeding product goals.
- Develop highly efficient product code in C++, making use of algorithmic parallelism offered by GPGPU programming (CUDA)/ARM NEON while following quality and safety standards such as defined by MISRA.
- Collaborate with HW, product, OS, and safety teams to design next-gen products.
What we need to see:
- MS or PhD degree in Computer Science, Computer Architecture, Electrical Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 12+ years of relevant professional experience.
- Excellent C and C++ programming skills.
- Solid understanding of programming and debugging techniques, especially for parallel architectures.
- Good understanding of system software/operating systems and computer architecture.
- Experience with performance analysis, optimizations and benchmarking.
- Outstanding communication and collaboration skills as this role might require significant interfacing with other teams within NVIDIA.
Ways to stand out from the crowd:
- Understanding of embedded architectures and real-time operating systems & scheduling.
- Strong mathematical fundamentals, including linear algebra and numerical methods.
- Experience implementing algorithms in robotics, computer vision, and/or machine learning.
- Software development experience with CUDA/GPGPU or any data parallel architectures.
- Deep learning architecture/performance work on any HW accelerator, especially if on GPUs.
#AutonomousVehicles
Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:224,000 USD – 356,500 USD for Level 5; and 272,000 USD – 431,250 USD for Level 6.
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 ($224,000) is above 82% of the 4,313 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 73 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $176,100; the middle half runs from $149,100 to $203,000.
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 6, 2026.
This listingSenior Software Performance Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles$224,000 to $431,250
Senior Full-Stack Lead Engineer$224,000 to $356,500
Senior Developer Relations Manager, Data Platforms$224,000 to $431,250
Senior Developer Relations Lead, AI-Enabled Drug Discovery Science$224,000 to $431,250
Manager, Solutions Architecture - AI Infrastructure Build Readiness$224,000 to $356,500
Senior Research Engineer - AI Coding Tools$224,000 to $431,250
Senior Retail Developer Relations Manager, Digital Commerce$224,000 to $431,250
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Senior Software Performance Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles (this listing) | $224,000 - $431,250 |
| Senior Full-Stack Lead Engineer | $224,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Developer Relations Manager, Data Platforms | $224,000 - $431,250 |
| Senior Developer Relations Lead, AI-Enabled Drug Discovery Science | $224,000 - $431,250 |
| Manager, Solutions Architecture - AI Infrastructure Build Readiness | $224,000 - $356,500 |
| Senior Research Engineer - AI Coding Tools | $224,000 - $431,250 |
| Senior Retail Developer Relations Manager, Digital Commerce | $224,000 - $431,250 |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- 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 (Levels 5-6 combined)
224,000 USD – 356,500 USD for Level 5; and 272,000 USD – 431,250 USD for Level 6.
- 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.
