NIO

Sr. Staff Performance Tuning Engineer (CPU PMU & Virtualization)

NIO • $192K — $249K *
San Jose, CA 95123In-Person
Telecommunications & Hardware
8 - 10 years of experience
1 week ago
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's, Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
  • 8+ years in system performance engineering or similar roles.
  • Strong understanding of computer architecture: CPU pipelines, execution engines, interrupt architectures, MMU, and virtual memory.
  • Deep expertise with Linux performance tools like perf, eBPF, and ftrace.
  • Proficiency in C/C++, Python, and shell scripting for automation.

Responsibilities

  • Identify and analyze CPU and memory performance bottlenecks.
  • Measure and interpret cycles and counts using hardware PMU counters.
  • Analyze and optimize performance metrics such as IPC and memory bandwidth utilization.
  • Tune hypervisor overhead and VM exit performance.
  • Optimize vCPU placement and IRQ affinity for performance-sensitive workloads.
  • Investigate cross-core latency issues in ARM-based systems.
  • Interpret ARM PMUv3 for microarchitectural performance analysis.

Benefits

  • Medical plans with $0 contribution for Employee Only Coverage.
  • Dental and vision plans with $0 paycheck contribution for you and dependents.
  • Company-paid Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions.
  • 401(k) plan with Brokerage Link option.
  • Company-paid life and disability insurance.
  • Employee Assistance Program and flexible spending accounts.
  • Free lunch, snacks, and onsite gym access.
Full Job Description
JOB DESCRIPTION

Responsibilities

Performance Analysis and Optimization
  • Identify and analyze performance bottlenecks across CPU, memory hierarchy, cache, interconnect, and interrupt subsystems.
  • Leverage hardware PMU counters to measure and interpret cycles, instructions, cache misses, branch mispredictions, TLB misses, and stall cycles.
  • Compute and analyze performance metrics such as IPC, CPI, MPKI, memory bandwidth utilization, and stall breakdowns.
  • Optimize system software, applications, and drivers for throughput, latency, and performance determinism.


Virtualization Performance Tuning
  • Profile and reduce hypervisor overhead, including VM exits, interrupt injection, and stage-2 MMU translation costs.
  • Optimize vCPU placement strategies, huge page usage, and IRQ affinity for performance-sensitive workloads.
  • Analyze and tune virtio and IOMMU performance paths.
  • Investigate cross-core and cross-cluster latency issues, including IPI overhead and interrupt routing on ARM-based systems.


CPU PMU and Microarchitectural Analysis
  • Configure and interpret ARM PMUv3 and related vendor-specific performance monitoring extensions.
  • Apply Top-Down Microarchitecture Analysis (TMA) to identify frontend/backend bottlenecks.
  • Correlate PMU-derived metrics with kernel traces, source code paths, and system behavior.
  • Design and implement custom event sets tailored to workload-specific performance characterization.


Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
  • 8+ years of experience in system performance engineering or related roles.
  • Strong understanding of computer architecture, including:
    • CPU pipelines, execution engines, and memory hierarchy
    • Interrupt architectures (e.g., GICv3/GICv4, APIC concepts)
    • MMU, virtual memory, and page table structures
  • Deep expertise with Linux performance tooling:
    • perf
    • eBPF / BCC / bpftrace
    • ftrace / trace-cmd
  • Proficiency in C/C++, Python, and shell scripting for performance tooling and automation.


Preferred Qualifications
  • Hands-on experience with ARM PMUv3 on Cortex-A55/A76/A78 or Neoverse platforms.
  • Experience with one or more virtualization stacks:
    • KVM/QEMU
    • Xen
    • seL4 or other RTOS/hypervisor environments


Compensation:

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $192,100.00 - $249,600.00.
  • Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
  • Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only. It does not include discretionary bonus, equity, or benefits.


Benefits:

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time NIO employee, you are eligible for the following benefits on the first day you join NIO:
  • Anthem Blue Cross, HSA, and Kaiser HMO medical plans with $0 for Employee Only Coverage.
  • Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plan. Both provide options with a $0 paycheck contribution covering you and your eligible dependents.
  • Company Paid HSA (Health Savings Account) Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible Anthem Blue Cross medical plan
  • Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
  • 401(k) with Brokerage Link option
  • Company paid Basic Life, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Sick and Vacation time
  • 13 Paid Holidays a year
  • Paid Parental Leave for first 8 weeks at full pay (eligible after 90 days of employment with NIO)
  • Paid Disability Leave for first 6 weeks at full pay (eligible after 90 days of employment with NIO)
  • Voluntary benefits including: Voluntary Life and AD&D options for you, your spouse/domestic partner and dependent child(ren), pet insurance
  • Commuter benefits
  • Mobile Cell Phone Credit
  • Free lunch and snacks
  • Onsite gym
  • Employee discounts and perks program

About NIO

NIO Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The company offers five, six, and seven-seater electric SUVs. It is also involved in the provision of energy and service packages to its users; marketing, design, and technology development activities; manufacture of e-powertrains, battery packs, and components; and sales and after sales management activities. The company was formerly known as NextEV Inc. and changed its name to NIO Inc. in July 2017. NIO Inc. was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China.
Learn more about NIO
Size
15,204 employees
Market Cap
$17.2 billion
Industry
Manufacturing & Automotive
Net Income
-$7 billion
Founded
2014
Revenue
$12.4 billion
NASDAQ
NIO
* Ladders Estimates

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