Hardware Engineer, Architect

Normal Computing Corporation • Palo Alto, CA

3d

About The Position

Normal Computing builds silicon that turns thermal noise from an obstacle into a computational resource. Conventional chips spend most of their energy forcing determinism onto physics; ours compute with it. Stochastic, in-memory, asynchronous: the result is 10-100× more AI inference per dollar, per watt. We co-design the full stack: AI-native EDA systems in production with the world's largest semiconductor companies, and the advanced ASICs they make possible. Backed by $85M+ from the world's leading deep-tech investors and built by scientists, engineers, and operators from the labs that built modern computing. Normal works as one team across New York, Silicon Valley, London, Copenhagen, and Seoul. We hire people who want the hardest version of their craft, across every discipline, at every seniority.

Requirements

• A degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent work experience. PhD welcome but not required; the bar is the work, not the credential.
• Substantial experience in architecture or microarchitecture of high-performance digital systems: AI accelerators, compute engines, or similarly complex logic. You have shaped and directed the structures inside a chip, not just consumed them from the outside.
• Fluency moving between algorithm-level analysis and hardware specification. You can read a profile of a workload and translate it into datapath widths, pipeline stages, and area/power estimates without losing the thread on either side.
• Experience with simulation-driven architecture. You have used cycle-accurate or analytical models to make and defend design decisions before RTL exists, and you know which questions each tool can answer and which it cannot.
• Familiarity with quantization and reduced-precision approaches for inference and their implementation implications. You understand the cost of a bit at the hardware level, not just the model level.
• Experience writing microarchitecture specifications and working closely with RTL engineers through implementation.
• Proficiency in Python or C++ for performance modeling and analysis, and familiarity with SystemVerilog or equivalent RTL.
• Comfort operating in an environment where the architecture is actively being discovered alongside the work. You do not need the answer to be already known to make progress on it.

Responsibilities

• Help define the architecture and microarchitecture of novel AI accelerator compute blocks: PE array design, datapath organization, and support for efficiency techniques such as sparsity exploitation and reduced-precision computation.
• Translate workload analysis and research findings into hardware specifications. Identify where architectural innovation creates the most leverage, define the structures that realize it, and produce microarchitecture documents unambiguous enough for RTL engineers to implement against.
• Reason across the full stack and defend PPA tradeoffs at every level. Move between algorithm-level workload behavior, memory hierarchy, on-chip interconnect, and physical design constraints.
• Partner with the compiler lead on ISA co-design. The programming model and the microarchitecture are defined together, and you are accountable for both sides meeting in the middle.
• Direct block-level pre-silicon validation. Decide which microarchitecture questions need to be answered, and the appropriate platform. Partner with our FPGA Design Engineers, who own implementation and bring-up, to de-risk decisions before tapeout. Work with the Systems Architect to make sure there are no gaps from block to System-level validation.
• Stay current with the AI accelerator research landscape and be able to articulate clearly where Normal's approach differs from existing solutions and why that matters. This is a research-adjacent seat and you are expected to read, possibly publish, and not just consume.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed