The demand for new datacenters and AI compute is rapidly outpacing the planet's energy capacity. Digital solutions are hitting a power wall as we approach the physical limits of traditional silicon. Conquering this bottleneck isn’t about bigger chips or more of them; it means rethinking the fundamental architecture. The industry's current path isn’t going to meet the need, so we took a different approach.
Instead of traditional electronic circuits, we use silicon photonics and an active, programmable metasurface to perform matrix multiplications at the speed of light. Our optical cells are 10,000x smaller than traditional photonic components, enabling unprecedented density. By using photonics instead of electricity, our chips become more efficient as they scale. This architecture will deliver up to 100 times the energy efficiency of existing solutions while significantly improving performance for large-scale AI inference.
We’ve assembled a world-class team of industry veterans and recently raised a $110M Series A led by Gates Frontier. Participants include M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Carbon Direct Capital, Aramco Ventures, Bosch Ventures, Tectonic Ventures, Space Capital, and others. We have also been recognized on the EE Times Silicon 100 list for several consecutive years.
Join us and shape the future of computing!
Position Overview:
We are seeking an experienced Lead for Performance and Power Analysis (PPA) to establish and drive our modeling infrastructure for performance characterization and power/energy optimization. This leadership role combines deep technical expertise in hardware modeling with team leadership responsibilities. You will build the PPA modeling team, define methodologies for performance and power simulation, and drive critical architectural decisions through data-driven analysis of our novel optical computing platform.
Location: Austin, TX or San Mateo, CA. Full-time onsite position.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead the PPA modeling team (4+ engineers) focused on performance and power analysis
Architect and implement performance models with discrete-event timing and cycle-accurate simulation
Develop power and energy modeling frameworks for optical engines, SRAM arrays, and digital logic
Define PPA analysis methodologies and establish modeling best practices
Drive performance optimization through bottleneck identification and architectural trade-off analysis
Collaborate with the architecture team on the performance characterization of novel compute blocks
Build and maintain a trace-driven simulation infrastructure for independent performance analysis
Develop power models for optical components, photonic devices, and opto-electronic interfaces
Work with silicon design teams to validate models against RTL and post-layout results
Mentor modeling engineers and establish team development practices
Present PPA results to the executive team and drive architecture decisions
Qualifications:
MS or PhD in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science (or BS with equivalent experience)
10+ years of experience in performance modeling and power analysis for CPUs, GPUs, or accelerators
Proven experience building and leading technical teams (3+ years of management experience)
Deep expertise in discrete-event simulation, cycle-accurate modeling, and performance analysis
Strong background in power modeling frameworks (McPAT, Cacti, or custom methodologies)
Expert-level C++ programming with a focus on performance-critical simulation code
Experience with trace-driven simulation and performance bottleneck analysis
Track record of shipping performance models that drove silicon design decisions
Excellent communication skills and ability to present technical results to diverse audiences
Experience with performance characterization of ML workloads on specialized hardware
Preferred Skills:
Experience with GPU performance modeling or shader core analysis
Background in accelerator architectures (TPU, NPU, DSP) or domain-specific processors
Knowledge of memory system modeling (HBM, DRAM controllers, cache hierarchies)
Familiarity with optical computing, photonics, or analog computing paradigms
Experience with event-driven simulation frameworks (SystemC, gem5, SST)
Understanding of ML framework internals (PyTorch, TensorFlow) and workload characteristics
Background in statistical performance modeling and regression analysis
Experience with power optimization techniques for datacenter processors
Publication record in computer architecture or hardware modeling venues
This is an opportunity to play a pivotal role in an innovative startup redefining the future of AI hardware. Work on a game-changing technology at the intersection of photonics and AI as part of a collaborative and brilliant team. You’ll contribute to a platform that redefines computational performance and accelerates the future of artificial intelligence. Come help us bring this transformative technology to the world.
BenefitsJoin a team that invests in your future and your well-being. At Neurophos, we offer:
100% coverage of base health plan premiums for you and your dependents, plus HSA contributions.
Unlimited PTO. No rigid vacation banks, just a focus on delivery.
401(k) matching and stock option opportunities to ensure our success is your success.
Full suite of voluntary benefits, including Dental, Vision, Life, Hospital, Critical Illness, and Accident insurance.
Personalized Benefits. Choose the plans that fit your life and take the cash back for those that don’t.
Top Skills
What We Do
Neurophos is delivering the computational power of the human brain to artificial intelligence. By leveraging decades of metamaterials research and >300 patents, we are unlocking the speed and efficiency of optical compute in an in-memory processor to increase the speed and energy efficiency of AI inference by more than 100X.
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