Datacenter & Agentic AI Workload Performance Optimization Engineer

The job

LIVE Employer public job feed (private-sector employer) Source: the employer's public careers feed · Data: listed 2026-10-05

Job description

Tenstorrent is leading the industry on cutting-edge AI technology, revolutionizing performance expectations, ease of use, and cost efficiency. With AI redefining the computing paradigm, solutions must evolve to unify innovations in software models, compilers, platforms, networking, and semiconductors. Our diverse team of technologists have developed a high performance RISC-V CPU from scratch, and share a passion for AI and a deep desire to build the best AI platform possible. We value collaboration, curiosity, and a commitment to solving hard problems. We are growing our team and looking for contributors of all seniorities.

Tenstorrent is looking for a Workload Performance Optimization Engineer to help optimize the software workloads that run on our next-generation RISC-V platforms. You’ll work across modern datacenter and agentic AI workloads—including Java, Python, PHP, Node.js, Lua, Go, and Rust—to identify performance bottlenecks and develop software, compiler, runtime, and hardware-aware optimizations that improve throughput, latency, and efficiency. This role sits at the intersection of software runtimes, compilers, CPU microarchitecture, and RISC-V silicon. You’ll bring up and tune major runtimes, profile real-world applications, investigate memory and concurrency behavior, and explore optimizations using RISC-V Vector/Matrix capabilities and custom instructions. You’ll also work with AI-assisted development and automated optimization workflows to accelerate the performance engineering process. Your work will directly influence both the RISC-V software ecosystem and the architecture of future Tenstorrent CPUs.

This role is remote, based out of North America.

We welcome candidates at various experience levels for this role. During the interview process, candidates will be assessed for the appropriate level, and offers will align with that level, which may differ from the one in this posting.

Who You Are

• You’re a performance engineer who enjoys getting deep into runtimes, compilers, applications, and CPU microarchitecture to understand why software is fast—or slow.
• You have hands-on experience optimizing software on RISC-V or another modern CPU architecture, with a strong understanding of the hardware/software boundary.
• You’re comfortable profiling complex systems, finding bottlenecks, forming hypotheses, and iterating through optimizations using data.
• You’re excited about emerging agentic AI development workflows and using AI tools to automate profiling, coding, benchmarking, and optimization.
• You’re a strong technical collaborator who can work across compiler, runtime, systems software, hardware, and performance modeling teams.

What We Need

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, with strong experience in performance optimization, computer architecture, compilers, or systems software.
• Hands-on experience with runtime or compiler optimization, such as OpenJDK/JIT, LLVM, GCC, V8, Python, or equivalent systems.
• Strong understanding of CPU performance, memory hierarchies, concurrency, garbage collection, vector/SIMD optimization, and RISC-V architecture.
• Expertise with performance profiling and analysis tools such as Linux perf, runtime profilers, QEMU, tracing tools, and performance modeling environments.
• Strong programming skills in Java, Python, C/C++, and RISC-V assembly, with the ability to work effectively across multiple software layers.

What You Will Learn

• How to optimize modern software stacks from application and runtime all the way down to CPU microarchitecture and silicon.
• How RISC-V Vector, Matrix, and custom ISA capabilities can be used to accelerate real-world datacenter and AI workloads.
• How runtime, compiler, memory, and concurrency decisions impact performance at datacenter scale.
• How to build automated and AI-assisted performance optimization workflows that continuously profile, analyze, modify, and benchmark software.
• How to influence future CPU architecture by connecting real workload behavior and software optimization opportunities to hardware design decisions.

Compensation for all engineers at Tenstorrent ranges from $100k - $500k including base and variable compensation targets. Experience, skills, education, background and location all impact the actual offer made.

Tenstorrent offers a highly competitive compensation package and benefits, and we are an equal opportunity employer.

This offer of employment is contingent upon the applicant being eligible to access U.S. export-controlled technology.  Due to U.S. export laws, including those codified in the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Company is required to ensure compliance with these laws when transferring technology to nationals of certain countries (such as EAR Country Groups D:1, E1, and E2).   These requirements apply to persons located in the U.S. and all countries outside the U.S.  As the position offered will have direct and/or indirect access to information, systems, or technologies subject to these laws, the offer may be contingent upon your citizenship/permanent residency status or ability to obtain prior license approval from the U.S. Commerce Department or applicable federal agency.  If employment is not possible due to U.S. export laws, any offer of employment will be rescinded.

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Field: Technology Sub-niche: Data, analytics and AI All jobs at Tenstorrent Jobs in California Jobs in Santa Clara, CA Santa Clara city guide California state guide Santa Clara County economy

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About the role

This is a — role in the Technology field (Data, analytics and AI) at Tenstorrent.

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How to prepare and behave

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The city

The job is in Santa Clara, CA. Below is what the official statistics say about living and working there.

How Santa Clara compares. Among the 145 largest places in California, Santa Clara is #46 by population, #11 for long commutes (#1 = fewest), #133 for homeownership (#1 = highest), #17 for household income (#1 = highest). Its county, Santa Clara County, is #1 of 58 counties for average pay ($197,043).

The place in numbers

Santa Clara has 130,256 residents (ACS 2020–2024), about 0.3% of the population of California. It covers 18 square miles of land, which works out to roughly 7,127 people per square mile. The median age is 34.6, 9% younger than the state median (34.6 against 37.9).

Housing

The median gross rent is $3,016 a month (rent plus utilities), 48% above the state median ($3,016 against $2,036). Over a year that is 20.2% of the median household income. US housing guidance treats housing as affordable when it takes 30% of income or less, so the typical household is under that line. The median home value is $1,582,600, which is 8.8 times the median household income ($178,958); a ratio above 5 usually means buying is out of reach without savings or a second income. 40.8% of households own their home, 27% below the state average (40.8% against 55.9%). A low ownership share points to a rental-heavy market with more apartments and shorter stays.

Work and pay

The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metropolitan area has 1,134,970 jobs in the BLS wage survey, and the median pay across all occupations is $84,050 a year, 65% above the national median ($84,050 against $50,980). The biggest occupation groups are computer and mathematical (149,970 jobs, median $186,320); management (115,110 jobs, median $210,750); business and financial operations (94,210 jobs, median $125,240). The area is most specialised in computer and mathematical (3.9 times) and architecture and engineering (2.5 times), where the share of workers is well above the national share. The best-paying groups with at least 5,000 jobs are management ($210,750) and legal ($195,190). In 2026M09 the unemployment rate of Santa Clara County was 4.2%. 72.2% of residents aged 16 and over are in the labour force. The city lies in Santa Clara County; its jobs, pay by industry and GDP are on the county page.

Getting around

Among workers, 58.2% drive alone, 2.5% use public transit, 2.8% walk, 25.7% work from home. 8.9% of workers commute 45 minutes or more, 54% below the state average (8.9% against 19.4%). Remote work is more common than in the state as a whole, which widens the set of employers a resident can work for without moving.

People and education

65.9% of adults aged 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 78% above the state share (65.9% against 37.1%). 46.4% of residents were born outside the United States, 72% above the state share (46.4% against 27.0%). The poverty rate is 8.4%, 30% below the state rate (8.4% against 12.0%).

Climate

The warmest month is Aug, averaging 68°F (19.8°C), and the coolest is Jan at 47°F (8.3°C). About 510 mm (20 inches) of precipitation falls in a year; Dec is the wettest month (114 mm) and Jul the driest (0 mm). These values come from NASA satellite-based climatology on a grid of about 50 km, so they describe the wider area, not a weather station in the city.

Nearby cities to compare

Closest cities in this guide: Sunnyvale (4 miles, similar rent); Cupertino (5 miles, rent 16% higher); Campbell (6 miles, rent 9% lower); Milpitas (6 miles, rent 3% higher). Rent differences are against Santa Clara; use the Compare tab to put any two cities side by side.

Full guide to Santa Clara →California guideAll jobs in Santa Clara

Official links for Santa Clara

• Official website of Santa Clara: santaclaraca.gov
• Census Bureau data profile for Santa Clara
• Official website of Santa Clara County: santaclaracounty.gov
• Official state website: ca.gov
• BLS Economy at a Glance: California

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Where to live

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Career paths

We could not match this title to one occupation, so here are the other sub-niches in Technology, where your skills may carry over:

Cybersecurity (762) Software engineering (4641) Cloud, IT and infrastructure (1147) Product management (927)

Distances

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The employer

Tenstorrent is the employer in this listing. See all its open jobs here →

We do not hold headcount or revenue for this employer. Check its careers site and, if it is listed on a stock exchange, its public filings (SEC EDGAR search).

What it is like to work at a company (culture, schedules, benefits) is not in the source data, so we do not describe it. Read the description and ask the questions under "How to prepare".

Other open jobs at Tenstorrent

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Same sub-niche: Data, analytics and AI

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FAQ

What is the Datacenter & Agentic AI Workload Performance Optimization Engineer job at Tenstorrent?

A private-sector role in technology (data, analytics and ai) listed 35 days ago. The full description is on this page and on the employer's page.

Where is this job?

Santa Clara, CA.

How do I apply?

Use the "View this job and apply on the employer's page" button. AtiveSite does not receive applications.

How much does it pay?

The listing does not publish pay, and we could not match the title to one official occupation.

What is the cost of living there?

Median rent in Santa Clara is $3,016 a month and median household income $178,958 (ACS 2020–2024).

How old is this listing?

It was posted on 2026-10-05 (35 days ago). Jobs older than 90 days are not shown.

Are there similar jobs?

Yes: browse data, analytics and ai jobs in California.

Sources and terms

• Job data: Tenstorrent careers page public feed (listing dated 2026-10-05). The job disappears from this site when it disappears from the source.
• Wages and projections: BLS OEWS (May 2025) and Employment Projections 2025–35.
• City and county figures: Census Bureau ACS 2020–2024, BEA, BLS QCEW and LAUS, NASA POWER climatology; distances from Census Gazetteer coordinates.

AtiveSite is not affiliated with or endorsed by the employer or any government agency, and does not process applications. Verify every detail with the employer before acting.

Sources

• BLS OEWS (wages and employment by occupation, May 2025)
• BLS Employment Projections 2025–35
• BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics
• BLS JOLTS
• BLS State and Metro Area Employment
• Census Bureau American Community Survey (via Census Reporter)
• BEA GDP by state and Regional Price Parities
• IRS 2026 tax adjustments
• U.S. Department of Labor, minimum wage by state
• Tax Foundation state income tax rates 2026
• USAJOBS
• USCIS
• U.S. Department of State, visas
• NASA POWER climatology
• GeoNames / Census Gazetteer (coordinates)