Sounds as if the upcoming AKD 2 ASIC tapeout (see roadmap below) will give birth to a silicon chip called AKD2500?
We're #hiring a new Head of Software – AI Toolchain & Developer Experience in Laguna Hills, California. Apply today or share this post with your network.
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Posted 9:35:03 PM. BrainChip is hiring a Head of Software to define and deliver a world-class software toolchain and…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
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BrainChip
Head of Software – AI Toolchain & Developer Experience
Laguna Hills, CA · 17 hours ago · 9 applicants
Promoted by hirer · Company review time is typically 1 week
$225K/yr - $275K/yr + Bonus, Stock
Hybrid
Full-time
About the job
BrainChip is hiring a
Head of Software to define and deliver a world-class software toolchain and developer experience for
Akida NPUs spanning
Akida 1500, Akida 2500, and our
Gen3 roadmap.
This is a high impact role reporting directly to executive leadership.
Whether you're currently leading a small team or driving strategy as a senior engineer, this role offers a significant increase in scope, ownership, and impact. We’re looking for a
high-energy, high-ownership, player/coach leader who wants more impact, loves collaborating with hardware teams, and enjoys building tools that make developers wildly productive.
You’ll guide the evolution of
MetaTF with
user experience as a primary design principle, while owning execution excellence across performance modeling, RTOS/embedded enablement, training/quantization pipelines, and cost-aware cloud training operations.
What you’ll do
- Own the multi-generation toolchain strategy (Akida 1500 → Akida 2500 → Gen3): workflows, APIs, model/operator compatibility, versioning, migration paths, and release discipline.
- Lead the next phase of MetaTF to strengthen usability and end-to-end developer workflow (model → quantize → compile → deploy → debug/profile), with excellent documentation and predictable experiences.
- Drive execution excellence across the Gen3 workplan:
- compiler / toolchain delivery
- runtime systems and interfaces (host + device)
- observability: logging, tracing, debugging strategy
- profiling and performance regression detection
- emulation/simulation enablement (as needed to accelerate validation)
- Oversee company-wide performance modeling: fast model analysis, operator frequency insights, latency/throughput/energy estimation approaches (as applicable), and reporting that teams trust.
- Lead RTOS and embedded enablement across products: portability strategy, testability, and clear boundaries between runtime and low-level interfaces.
- Own training, quantization, and conversion pipelines so research and product teams can move smoothly from experimentation to deployment.
- Steward cloud training costs: visibility, attribution, guardrails, and practical optimization, balancing speed with sustainability.
- Establish best practices for agent-assisted development (design, coding, maintenance): accelerating delivery while protecting quality, security, and maintainability.
- Build a culture of strong collaboration across hardware, software, and research turning architecture discussions into shipped capabilities.
What you’ll bring
- Player/coach leadership: You lead teams effectively and you’re comfortable diving into architecture, design reviews, critical-path debugging, and unblockers when needed.
- International team experience: Proven success leading globally distributed teams across time zones and cultures with clear priorities, crisp communication, and reliable delivery.
- Toolchain/platform shipping track record: Experience building and shipping developer-facing platforms such as SDKs, compilers/runtimes, ML deployment toolchains, embedded systems, or performance tooling.
- NPU/accelerator depth: Strong understanding of the hardware/software boundary for accelerators, including:
- memory movement and bandwidth constraints
- DMA-style data paths and scheduling considerations
- ISA/architecture tradeoffs
- appreciation for dataflow-oriented thinking and near-memory compute concepts
- Developer experience instincts: You care about how tools feel—onboarding, docs, reproducibility, error messages, debuggability, and “time-to-first-success.”
- Executive communication: You can communicate at multiple altitudes—deep technical reviews, crisp written decision docs, and clear exec-level updates that drive decisions.
- Determined and flexible: You push through ambiguity and deliver outcomes, while adapting quickly as new information emerges.
- High-trust collaboration: You set a high bar, stay constructive under pressure, and build teams people want to work with.
- You will trust your team to get the job done but not hesitate to put hands on the keyboard to meet deadlines.
Education
- BS required in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, from a top tier school or equivalent practical experience.
- MS preferred (EE/CE/CS or similar), especially with exposure to computer architecture, compilers, embedded/RTOS, or ML systems.
Nice to have
- ML compiler and deployment experience (graph lowering, kernel/operator strategies, quantization workflows).
- Debugger/profiler/trace tooling experience and strong instincts for IDE-integrated workflows.
- RTOS/bare-metal expertise in production environments.
- Open-source contributions and/or active engagement in technical communities.
- You genuinely enjoy performance deep-dives—memory hierarchies, cache behavior, and attention-cache conversations (yes, including KV cache debates).
- Multi-lingual and can speak CNNs, RNNs, Transformers and State-Space models with ease.
Why this role is a step up
You’ll shape the software direction for an NPU platform across multiple hardware generations, partner closely with architecture and silicon teams, and deliver the toolchain experience that enables customers and internal teams to move fast with confidence.
*We are not working with agencies on this opening at this time.
Explore BrainChip’s technology roadmap highlighting Akida neuromorphic advances, configurable IP, and future edge AI innovations.
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